NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2001

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                      HARKIN AMENDMENT NO. 3762

  (Ordered to lie on the table.)
  Mr. HARKIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to
the bill, S. 2549, supra; as follows:

       On page 415, between lines 2 and 3, insert the following:

     SEC. 1061. SECRECY POLICIES AND WORKER HEALTH.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Workers at some nuclear weapons production facilities
     in the United States have been exposed to radioactive and
     other hazardous substances that could harm their health.
       (2) Some workers at the nuclear weapons facility at the
     Iowa Army Ammunition Plant from 1947-1975 also worked for a
     United States Army plant at the same site and under the same
     contractor.
       (3) The policy of the Department of Defense to neither
     confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at any site
     has prevented the Department from even acknowledging the
     reason for some worker exposures to radioactive or other
     hazardous substances, and secrecy oaths have discouraged some
     workers from discussing possible exposures with their health
     care providers and other appropriate officials.
       (4) The policy of the Department to neither confirm nor
     deny has been applied to sites where nuclear weapons are
     widely known to have been present, where the past presence of
     nuclear weapons were last present more than 25 years ago.
       (5) The Department has, in the past, varied from its policy
     by publicly acknowledging that the United States had nuclear
     weapons in Alaska, Cuba, Guam, Hawaii, Johnston Islands,
     Midway, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and West Germany,
     and has denied having weapons in Iceland.
       (6) It is critical to maintain national secrets regarding
     nuclear weapons, but more openness on nuclear weapons
     activities now consigned to history is needed to protect the
     health of former workers and the public.
       (b) Review of Secrecy Policies.--The Secretary of Defense
     is directed to change Department secrecy oaths and policies,
     within appropriate national security constraints, to ensure
     that such policies do not prevent or discourage current and
     former workers at nuclear weapons facilities who may have
     been exposed to radioactive and other hazardous substances
     from discussing those exposures with their health care
     providers and with other appropriate officials. The policies
     amended should include the policy to neither confirm nor deny
     the presence of nuclear weapons as it is applied to former
     U.S. nuclear weapons facilities that no longer contain
     nuclear weapons or materials.
       (c) Notification of Potential Victims.--The Secretary of
     Defense is directed to notify people who are or were bound by
     Department secrecy oaths or policies, and who may have been
     exposed to radioactive or hazardous substances at nuclear
     weapons facilities, of any likely health risks and of how
     they can discuss the exposures with their health care
     providers and other appropriate officials without violating
     secrecy oaths or policies.
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