On July 18, President George W. Bush announced that the United States would share civilian nuclear technology with India. Under the terms of the arrangement, the United States will share civilian nuclear technology with India, and in exchange India will continue its freeze on testing nuclear weapons and agree to have its civilian nuclear facilities monitored. But India’s nuclear arsenal—developed in secret—will remain unmonitored, and India will continue to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Has President Bush offered partnership to India but signaled the death knell of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? And what about the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which bar sales of nuclear technology to any country without full-scope safeguards?
It appears that without realizing he has done so, President Bush has created two sets of rules. Does this now mean that Israel can be eligible for nuclear cooperation? And if Israel is eligible, why not Pakistan? Or, as we will soon hear from Tehran, why not Iran?
Please join AEI to discuss the new nuclear partnership between the United States and India. Speakers will include Robert Einhorn (CSIS), Henry Sokolski (NPEC), and Thomas Donnelly and Danielle Pletka (AEI).