Insertions for the record-Continued Department of Defense response to query concerning weather modifi- Mission of OL-2 unit at Udorn Air Force Base.. Department of Defense response to query concerning cloud seeding Additional questions submitted by Senator Case and responses of Prepared statement of Prof. Richard A. Falk Exchange of correspondence between Congressman Gilbert Gude and "Technology in Vietnam: Fire Storm Project Fizzled Out," article by Additional remarks by Congressman Gilbert Gude regarding Senate "Geophysical Warfare-How to Wreck the Environment," article by Letter to Senator Claiborne Pell from Philip Handler, president, U.S. position paper on recommendation III-218, 1972 U.N. conference J PROHIBITING MILITARY WEATHER MODIFICATION WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1972 UNITED STATES SENATE, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room 4221, New Senate Office Building, Senator Claiborne Pell (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Pell and Case. Senator PELL. The subcommittee will come to order. OPENING STATEMENT This morning the Subcommittee on Oceans and Internationa Environment opens its public hearings on Senate Resolution 281 This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should seek the agreement of other Governments to a proposed treaty prohibiting the use of any environmental or geophysical modification activity as a weapon A number of Senators have done me the honor of joining with me in cosponsoring this resolution. I offered this resolution because it was becoming increasingly clear that the potential for offensive military uses of environmental and geophysical modification is very real. There was also a growing concern among knowledgeable members of the scientific community that development and use of these modification techniques, without limitation, could have awesome consequences. (Text of S. Res. 281 and coordinated executive branch comments follow :) [S. Res. 281, 92d Cong., second sess.] RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government should seek the agreement of other governments to a proposed treaty prohibiting the use of any environmental or geophysical modification activity as a weapon of war, or the carrying out of any research or experimentation with respect thereto Whereas there is vast scientific potential for human betterment through environmental and geophysical controls; and Whereas there is great danger to the world ecological system if environmental and geophysical modification activities are not controlled or if used indiscriminantly; and Whereas the development of weapons-oriented environmental and geophysical modification activities will create a threat to peace and world order; and Whereas the United States Government should seek agreement with other governments on the complete cessation of any research, experimentation, or use of any such activity as a weapon of war: Now, therefore, be it (1) Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States Government should seek the agreement of other governments to the following treaty providing for the complete cessation of any research, experimentation, and use of any environmental or geophysical modification activity as a weapon of war: "The Parties to this Treaty, 'Recognizing the vast scientific potential for human betterment through environmental and geophysical controls, Aware of the great danger to the world ecological system of uncontrolled and indiscriminate use of environmental and geophysical modification activities, "Recognizing that the development of weapons-oriented environmental and geophysical modification techniques will create a threat to peace and world order, "Proclaiming as their principal aim the achievement of an agreement on the complete cessation of research, experimentation, and use of environmental and geophysical modification activities as weapons of war, "Have agreed as follows: "ARTICLE I "(1) The States Parties to this Treaty undertake to prohibit and prevent, at any place, any environmental or geophysical modification activity as a weapon of war; "(2) The prohibition in paragraph 1 of this article shall also apply to any research or experimentation relating to the development of any such activity as a weapon of war; "(3) The States Parties to this Treaty undertake not to assist, encourage or induce any State to carry out activities referred to in paragraph 1 of this article and not to participate in any other way in such actions. "ARTICLE II "In this Treaty, the term 'environmental or geophysical modification activity' includes any of the following activities: "(1) any weather modification activity which has as a purpose, or has as one of its principal effects, a change in the atmospheric conditions over any part of the earth's surface, including, but not limited to, any activity designed to increase or decrease precipitation, increase or suppress hail, lightning, or fog, and direct or divert storm systems; "(2) any climate modification activity which has as a purpose, or has as one of its principal effects, a change in the long-term atmospheric conditions over any part of the earth's surface; "(3) any earthquake modification activity which has as a purpose, or has as one of its principal effects, the release of the strain energy instability within the solid rock layers beneath the earth's crust; "(4) any ocean modification activity which has as a purpose, or has as one of its principal effects, a change in the ocean currents or the creation of a seismic disturbance of the ocean (tidal wave). "ARTICLE III "Five years after the entry into force of this Treaty, a conference of Parties shall be held at Geneva, Switzerland, in order to review the operation of this Treaty with a view to assuring that the purposes of the preamble and the provisions of the Treaty are being realized. Such review shall take into account any relevant technological developments in order to determine whether the definition in Article II should be amended. "ARTICLE IV "1. Any Party may propose an amendment to this Treaty. The text of any proposed amendment shall be submitted to the Depositary Governments which shall circulate it to all Parties to this Treaty. Thereafter, if requested to do so by one-third or more of the Parties, the Depositary Governments shall convene a conference to which they shall invite all the Parties, to consider such amendment. “2. Any amendment to this Treaty shall be approved by a majority of the votes of all the Parties to this Treaty. The amendment shall enter into force for all Parties upon the deposit of instruments of ratification by a majority of all the Parties. "ARTICLE V "1. This Treaty shall be of unlimited duration. "2. Each Party shall in exercising its national sovereignty have the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country. It shall give notice of such withdrawal to all other Parties to the Treaty three months in advance. "ARTICLE VI "1. This Treaty shall be open to all States for signature. Any State which does not sign this Treaty before its entry into force in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article may accede to it at any time. "2. This Treaty shall be subject to ratification by signatory States. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Governments of the United States of America, and which are hereby designated the Depositary Governments. "3. This Treaty shall enter into force after its ratification by the States, the Governments of which are designated Depositaries of the Treaty. "4. For States whose instruments of ratification or accession are deposited subsequent to the entry into force of this Treaty, it shall enter into force on the date of the deposit of their instruments of ratification or accession. "5. The Depositary Governments shall promptly inform all signatory and acceding States of the date of each signature, the date of deposit of each instrument of ratification of and accession to this Treaty, the date of its entry into force, and the date of receipt of any requests for conferences or other notices. "6. This Treaty shall be registered by the Depositary Governments pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations." DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, D.C., May 15, 1972. Hon. J. W. FULBRIGHT, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Secretary has asked me to reply to your letter of March 21, 1972, requesting coordinated Executive Branch comments on S. Res. 281. This resolution would express the sense of the Senate that the United States Government should seek the agreement of other governments to a treaty providing for the complete cessation of any research, experimentation and use of any environmental or geophysical modification activity as a weapon of war. The text of a draft treaty is incorporated in the resolution. As recently as March 16, 1972, the President in his message to the Congress on science and technology has stressed the potential importance of our earthquake and hurricane research efforts in reducing loss of life and property from natural disasters. This emphasis is consistent with the view expressed in the resolution that such activities may contribute to human betterment. As the Committee is aware, the Executive Branch has conducted a preliminary inter-agency review of questions related to international aspects of weather modification. However, this review did not deal fully with several aspects of S. Res. 281 and questions that arose relating to other important aspects still remain unanswered. Therefore, the Department is not in a position to comment on the substance of S. Res. 281 and recommends that the resolution not be adopted at this time. The Office of Management and Budget advises that from the standpoint of the Administration's program, there is no objection to the submission of this report. Sincerely yours, DAVID M. ABSHIRE, Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations. REPORTS OF U.S. WEATHER MODIFICATION OPERATIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA In addition, there have been unconfirmed and unofficial reports that the United States has or is attempting to manipulate weather in Southeast Asia as a weapon of warfare. These reports have served to deepen my own concern. My own concern started before these reports, I may add. As chairman of this subcommittee, I wrote the Defense Department on September 23, 1971, requesting specific information about such activities. That is more than 9 months ago. After 4 months of correspondence, which I made public on the floor of the Senate on January 26 of this year, the Defense Department declined to answer my questions on the basis that such replies would threaten the national security. This response, coupled with the revelations made in recent articles by several investigative reporters, leaves no doubt in my mind that the United States has indeed been conducting weather modification operations in Southeast Asia. This is a situation which I find extremely distressing. Rainmaking as a weapon of war can only lead to the development of vastly more dangerous environmental techniques whose consequences may be unknown and may cause irreparable damage to our global environment. This is why the United States must move quickly to ban all environmental or geophysical modification techniques from the arsenals of war. The United States has been preeminent in the field of meteorology and has played a leading role in the development of international scientific collaboration in the area of long-range weather forecasting. The military use of weather modification techniques could seriously jeopardize these peaceful scientific programs and could undermine all future international cooperation on environmental matters. WHAT UNITED STATES SHOULD DO Therefore, it is imperative that the United States enunciate a national policy on this subject, which would dedicate all environmental and geophysical modification efforts to peaceful purposes. Instead of its official silence and actions condoning a gradual drift into environmental warfare, the administration should actively explore both the advantages of a renunciation of such operations and the possible benefits stemming from an initiative for a multilateral "no first use" agreement. In the absence of such a ban, the way has been left open to the planning, development, and prosecution of deliberate environmental or geophysical warfare. The United States, as Cochairman of the United Nations Disarmament Committee, should take the initiative in framing and introducing to the committee a broad treaty imposing a prohibition on all forms of geophysical and environmental warfare. By these actions the United States would enhance world order and stability, and encourage a greater sense of openness in the application of new technologies to environmental problems of global concern. At this point I would like to have inserted into the record various newspaper articles from the Providence, R.I., Journal, from the New York Times, and from the Washington Post. (The articles referred to follow :) |