Cox report sees danger from ‘axis of evil’

Paul Clinton

With the nation’s attention split between the twin dragons of North

Korea and Iraq, Rep. Chris Cox released a timely report on the

nation’s nuclear weapons policy last week.

“Today, we are faced with a far more diverse array of nuclear

threats than in the past,” Cox said. “To maintain a strategy of

deterrence in this new environment requires a reexamination of both

our technologies and our nuclear doctrine. At the same time,

protecting American territory through ballistic missile defenses is

now an essential element in deterring nuclear aggression.”

Cox, chairman of the Homeland Security and House Policy

committees, joined Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) as co-authors of the

report.

The report concluded that North Korea, Iraq and Iran -- the three

countries President Bush has grouped as the “axis of evil” -- have

been developing what are being called “hard and deeply buried

targets.” These are any stash of weapons potentially used for mass

destruction that are kept in an underground bunker or other hidden

structure.

It would include nuclear, biological and chemical weapons,

including the so-called “dirty bomb.”

The report also advocated new federal funding to maintain the

nation’s arsenal of nuclear arms, which intelligence officials

acknowledge has gathered some dust since the end of the Cold War.

A report from the General Accounting Office criticizes the

Department of Energy’s readiness for an underground nuclear test. The

department has said it needs three years before any weapons could be

discharged underground. The Cox and Wilson report asks for that

timetable to be reduced to 18 months at the longest.

The report wasn’t a response to headlines about the weapons

capabilities of North Korea and Iraq per se, the legislators said. It

was begun more than a year ago, but the news only underlines the new

geopolitical climate, Wilson said.

“We are living in a different world with new and emerging

threats,” Wilson said. “Our nuclear weapons program must adapt to the

new world.”

GETTING ORANGE COUNTY WORKERS OUT OF THE LOBBY

Supervisor Jim Silva is floating a proposal to end abuse by Orange

County staff members of their positions.

Silva, who represents Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, said he will

present a proposal to his colleagues in March to prohibit staff

members from lobbying lawmakers.

Silva met with lawmakers last spring, he said, and was miffed when

he saw a letter from an Orange County Health Care Agency official to

Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) supporting legislation to

limit soda sales to schoolchildren.

The board had not taken a position on the bill.

“I’m really concerned about the problems of county staff using

their title or stationary to lobby against policies set by the

board,” Silva said Wednesday from Sacramento.

STILL COOL TOWARD COASTAL COMMISSION BILL

Despite some legislative activity, Assemblyman John Campbell is

still not supporting a Democratic solution to the California Coastal

Commission’s constitutional identity crisis.

Newport Beach environmentalist Rodolphe Streichenberger won a

landmark decision in April 2001 from a state superior court judge,

who ruled that the venerable agency is unconstitutional because its

members are appointed by both the governor and lawmakers. That, the

judge decided, violates the separation of powers clause.

On Tuesday, the Assembly passed an altered version of a bill that

both houses of the state Legislature passed last week to impose fixed

terms on coastal commissioners and bump them from two-year to

four-year terms.

Campbell, who voted against the bill both times, said this

Democratic solution still doesn’t address the core problem. Campbell

supports taking the appointments of the commissioners out of the

Legislature’s hands.

Gov. Gray Davis has scheduled a noon ceremony today to sign the

bill.

“I don’t think any of this is substantive to the issue,” Campbell

said. “They’re trying to smokescreen over the real problems.”