NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2001
[...]
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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