Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting the Annual Certification of the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile
Dear __________:
In my September 22, 1997, message to the Senate transmitting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) for advice and consent to ratification, I announced that I would provide to the appropriate committees of Congress the annual certification of the nuclear weapons stockpile by the Secretaries of Defense and Energy and accompanying report. Attached is a copy of that certification and report.
I am pleased to note the Secretaries' conclusion that the nuclear stockpile has no safety or reliability concerns that require underground testing at this time. Problems that have arisen in the stockpile are being addressed and resolved without underground nuclear testing to ensure the stockpile remains safe and reliable. In reaching this conclusion, the Secretaries obtained the advice of the Directors of the National Weapons Laboratories, the Commander in Chief, United States Strategic Command, and the Nuclear Weapons Council.
Sincerely,
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
NOTE: Identical letters were sent to Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate; President pro tempore of the Senate Strom Thurmond, chairman, and Carl Levin, ranking member, Senate Committee on Armed Services; Trent Lott, Senate majority leader; Thomas A. Daschle, Senate minority leader; Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Richard A. Gephardt, House minority leader; Jesse Helms, chairman, and Joseph R. Biden, Jr., ranking member, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; Benjamin A. Gilman, chairman, and Lee Hamilton, ranking member, House Committee on International Relations; and Floyd Spence, chairman, and Ike Skelton, ranking member, House Committee on National Security. This letter was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on February 12.
William J. Clinton, Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting the Annual Certification of the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/225248