By David Myszewski
Staff Writer

The Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, came to the Hoover Institute on Wednesday, October 6, to speak. Her main topics: The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and resources. She kept the tone light at first, joking about the office being almost the same as it was when Warren Christopher was Secretary of State, "Unless, of course, you count the cosmetics and hair spray and curling iron in the bathroom," and calling Stanford one of the world's great universities, "right up there with Harvard and almost in league with Georgetown where, in case you don't know, I taught." Inevitably, she had to get down to business. The Secretary of State began her case in favor of the treaty by giving statistics that 51 nations have ratified the treaty, including 15 of our 18 NATO allies. Her primary argument was that the treaty is in the United States' national security interest. "Under the new treaty," she said, "America would retain a safe and reliable nuclear deterrent, but by preventing testing the treaty will inhibit the development of more advanced weapons by other nuclear weapon states and make it harder for countries that do not now have such weapons to develop them." Albright claimed that the heads of United States nuclear testing facilities believe that no tests are necessary to maintain an effective deterrant, citing that as a reason why America began a moratorium on tests in 1992. She added that that moratorium is worldwide, with the exception of South Africa. Stated Albright, "So this treaty is not about preventing America from conducting nuclear explosive tests. It is about preventing others from doing so. It is about establishing the principle worldwide that it is not smart, not safe, not right and not legal to conduct explosive tests in order to modernize or develop nuclear weapons." In addition, she said that General Hugh Shelton, four previous Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Cohen, and former Secretaries Perry and Christopher hold the same view. The Secretary of State mentioned six safeguards, submitted by the President, that would be in place if the United States were to enter the treaty. Though she did not go into great detail about these safeguards, Albright said these safeguards "specify the circumstances under which the President would be prepared, in consultation with Congress, to exercise our right of supreme national interest under the treaty to conduct necessary testing if the safety or reliability of our nuclear deterrent could no longer be certified." Albright also attempted to make a negative vote on the treaty spell imminent danger. "We will have cut the legs out from under our own diplomatic efforts to persuade Pakistan and India to sign and ratify the CTBT, thereby making a very dangerous nuclear arms race in South Asia more likely. We will have thrown away a valuable tool in slowing the modernization of China's nuclear arsenal. We will have disregarded the counsel of allies and friends. We will have ignored the best national security advice of our top military leaders. We will have denied the vision and betrayed the dream of two presidents who first proposed the Comprehensive Test Ban, Dwight David Eisenhower and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. We will have missed a priceless chance to improve our ability to detect and deter nuclear tests and we will be left without a response when our own children ask why, when we had a chance to put America on the side of banning nuclear explosive tests forever, we said no." Madeleine Albright then shifted the topic of her speech to resources--in short, money--specifically, the foreign affairs budget. Albright gave some statistics about the foreign affairs budget, saying that from 1990 to 1994, the budget was about $25 billion in the value of today's dollar, while today it is twenty percent smaller. She spoke of the votes in the House and the Senate to cut President Clinton's Fiscal Year 2000 budget by $2 billion dollars, saying that, if this becomes law, it would create a "clear and present danger to American interests." She conceded that "our economy is strong and our military power unmatched," yet Albright still claimed that there are still serious threats to United States citizens, including international terrorists, conflicts in certain regions, drug trafficking, and several different kinds of weapons of mass destruction. Albright ended her speech by talking about how diplomacy and force must complement each other, and that the citizens in United States embassies need the best protection that money can buy. She called national security "a bedrock task of our national government," saying national security is "the solemn responsibility of the executive and legislative branches in Washington, each according to its role." After her speech, Albright opened the floor to questions. In her answer to one of those questions, the Secretary of State called upon United States citizens to open a diologue with elected officials. "I believe that it is through your help, frankly -- I think the public has to go to its elected officials and say that a great country can not carry on issues that are central to our national security like the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by playing party politics." While in the Silicon Valley, Albright had some other business. She met with Silicon Valley executives to converse about the importance of the Internet in future global economy. Albright used the Internet to have a first-ever video conference with the foreign minister of El Salvador, Maria Engenia Brizuela de Avila, in Santa Clara, California. At the Hoover Institution, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher introduced Secretary Madeleine Albright, and former Secretary of Defense William Perry was also on hand.