Eighteen House Republicans are calling out Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm after the Energy Department offered Russia and China the chance to inspect an American nuclear testing site.
In a letter sent Thursday, the lawmakers, led by GOP conference chair Representative Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), rebuked Granholm for her offer of “unlimited access” to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nevada National Security Site by Beijing and Moscow. It became public in September that the Department of Energy made the invitation to Russian and Chinese officials as a gesture to prove the U.S. is upholding a three-decade moratorium against the testing of nuclear weapons.
“I am leading my colleagues in demanding that President Biden revoke this misguided invitation to our adversaries in Beijing and Moscow that grants them unprecedented access and insight into our nuclear weapons,” Stefanik said in a press release. “Inviting Communist China and Russia to have a front row seat for our sensitive nuclear weapons tests will give them invaluable information on how to defeat our nuclear capabilities and improve their own.”
The congresswoman added, “At a time when our adversaries are growing their nuclear stockpiles to undermine America’s leadership, allowing them access to one of our nuclear test sites will only advance this pursuit and lead to our own destruction.”
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee and a co-signer of Stefanik’s letter, similarly censured Granholm:
Russia and China should not have insider access to our testing. Both countries have had ample opportunity to be more open about their nuclear weapons development and deployments and refuse to do so. The amendment I introduced on this matter will halt the Biden administration’s latest lapse in judgment.
Yet the DOE has pushed back against the criticism, maintaining that there are no plans to have Chinese or Russian officials inspect the nuclear site. Fox News quoted a DOE spokesman as saying:
There are no ongoing discussions with Russia or China on visits and no invitations have been made. DOE has not conducted an explosive nuclear test in more than 30 years — and has no plans to do so. The U.S. is committed to our nuclear testing moratorium and we have no issues proving it, but any potential transparency measures with Russia and China have to be met with reciprocity.
Despite the statement, it is known that such an invitation was made by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an agency of the Department of Energy. Per the invitation, officials from Moscow and Beijing would tour the Nevada site during the latest International Atomic Energy Agency summit. Per Corey Hinderstein, a top NNSA official, there was no immediate response to the offer by either China or Russia.
Russia has gradually dialed back its nuclear restrictions. In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with America. And last week, Putin withdrew Russia from its ratification of a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests.
China, meanwhile, is expanding its nuclear weapons capabilities, with the Department of Defense warning that this expansion is outpacing previous projections by the United States government. General Anthony Cotton, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, told Congress during an Armed Services Committee hearing in March that “the PRC [People’s Republic of China] is now projected to have over 1,000 warheads by the end of this decade.”
China’s actions were one fact pointed to by the authors of the congressional letter to Granholm; Republicans argued that China’s refusal to take part in discussions regarding its expanding nuclear arsenal is reason not to give Beijing access to American nuclear sites “while offering nothing in return.”
China is also making significant headway in the expansion of its naval capabilities. To compare America and China: The United States has 294 battle force ships, which is lower than the 355 the country is supposed to have by law. Meanwhile, China has a fleet of 340 ships and is expected to have more than 400 by 2025 — part of a plan for fast growth that also includes supplying its military with a fresh stock of surface combat missiles and guided-missile destroyers.
And even as China is growing its navy, Biden has made budget cuts resulting in the premature retirement of nearly a dozen U.S. ships, while also removing missile systems that currently deter Chinese aggression at sea.
“The notion of granting America’s adversaries access to our military sites — and enabling them to gain information about U.S. nuclear capabilities — is deeply alarming and fundamentally absurd,” said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), another co-signer of Stefanik’s letter.
Biden’s actions have been so effective at weakening America’s national security that one has to wonder whether that has been the aim all along. As FDR famously said, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
