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Sign the Call for a Nuclear Weapons Free World Statements By Obama, Gates On Nuclear Weapons Differ The Situation Room (CNN) WOLF BLITZER: President-Elect Barack Obama and the defense secretary he’s asked to stay on at the Pentagon have a seriously different opinion when it comes to nuclear weapons. Or at least that would seem to be the case. Let’s go to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre. He’s been looking at this story for us. All right, where do these two men stand, Jamie? JAMIE MCINTYRE: Well, Wolf, this is another case where the lofty rhetoric of the campaign trail has come into direct conflict with the realities of the real world. Barack Obama says he’s committed to ridding our planet of its deadliest WMDs. SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): It’s time to send a clear message to the world – America seeks a world with no nuclear weapons. MCINTYRE: But his holdover defense secretary, famous for his pragmatism, has a different view. DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: Try as we might and hope as we will, the power of nuclear weapons and their strategic impact is a genie that cannot be put back in the bottle – at least for a very long time. MCINTYRE: Robert Gates sees the world with the gimlet eye of the old spy master he is, and argues forcefully America not only needs its atomic arsenal, but needs new, improved bombs to strike fear in future foes. GATES: Let me be clear. The program we propose is not about new capabilities – suitcase bombs or bunker busters or tactical nukes. It is about safety, security and reliability. MCINTYRE: The U.S. hasn’t tested its nukes for 16 years. It’s one reason Defense Secretary Gates is anxious to replace America’s aging nuclear weapons with a new, smaller arsenal of modern warheads. But even without testing, the newer nukes would be far more reliable, he argues. And they could be outfitted with high tech safeguards to prevent their use if they ever fell into the wrong hands. So President-elect Obama wants no nukes and Gates wants new nukes. Good thing Obama gave himself plenty of wiggle room. OBAMA: As long as nuclear weapons exist, we’ll retain a strong deterrent. But we will make the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons a central element in our nuclear policy. MCINTYRE: So what exactly does Barack Obama have to decide? One thing is whether to build the so-called reliable replacement warhead – a multi-billion dollar program to replace aging weapons. Congress so far has rejected money for that. And the other issue is whether the U.S. joins the countries of the world who have agreed never to test nuclear weapons again. That treaty has not yet been ratified by the Senate. And the answers to those questions, Wolf, will determine whether Barack Obama’s pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons remains an elusive goal or a more solid promise. Wolf? BLITZER: I know you’ll watch it for us. Jamie, thank you
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