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On December 19, a Report to Congress on the Defeat of Hard and Deeply Buried Targets, submitted by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in conjunction with Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, was made public by two US NGOs, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). The report was submitted in October 2001, under the terms of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2001. It makes clear that no decision has made either to pursue or reject the option of developing new, low-yield nuclear weapons, popularly known as 'mini-nukes' or nuclear 'bunker-busters', specifically to destroy facilities housing weapons of mass destruction or forming a critical component of a WMD programme.
In its Executive Summary, the report notes that the Departments of Defense and Energy "have completed initial studies on how existing nuclear weapons can be modified to defeat those HDBTs [hard and deeply buried targets] that cannot be held at risk with conventional high-explosive weapons or current nuclear weapons. Any development and procurement of advanced nuclear capabilities would be considered in the broad context of nuclear stockpile policy, plans, and priorities, as well as future DOD strategic programs." The report goes on to state that the two Departments, which have "formed a joint Nuclear Planning Group to define the appropriate scope and option selection criteria for a possible feasibility and cost study", conducted a research programme in 1997, entitled PROJECT SAND DUNE, which "addressed nuclear solutions for holding the most challenging HDBTs at risk." Presumably on the basis of that research, the two Departments are now "studying the sensitivities and synergies of nuclear weapon yield, penetration, accuracy and tactics" relating to possible new nuclear weapon designs.
Reports: Report to Congress on the defeat of hard and deeply buried targets, submitted by the Secretary of Defense in conjunction with the Secretary of Energy, July 2001 (submitted in October 2001), made available by the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) at http://www.nukewatch.org/nwd/HiRes_Report_to_Congress_on_the_Defeat.pdf; Low-yield nuclear device considered, Associated Press, December 19; Pentagon considers new bunker buster, Global Security Newswire, December 19; Nuclear strike on bunkers assessed, Washington Post, December 20.
© 2002 The Acronym Institute.