Senate Confirms Bolton to State Department Arms Control Post

08 May 2001

Senate Confirms Bolton to State Department Arms Control Post

Democrats assail his positions on relevant issues

By RALPH DANNHEISSER
Washington File Congressional Correspondent

Washington -- Voting largely along party lines, the Senate May 8 confirmed John Bolton to the top arms control position at the State Department.

All 50 Senate Republicans voted to endorse President Bush's selection of Bolton, an attorney with prior governmental experience in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as under secretary of state for arms control and international security. Seven Democrats joined their Republican colleagues, bringing the overall vote for confirmation to 57-43.

The vote followed a scheduled three hours of floor debate on the nomination, during which some Democrats argued that Bolton's previously expressed views on arms control issues made him a poor choice to take on the arms control portfolio.

But Bolton was strongly supported by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (Republican, North Carolina), who described him as "a brilliant thinker" and "precisely the kind of citizen whom the United States desperately needs at this difficult time to have an important role in the protection of the American people from the threat of missile attack."

"This man is a thoughtful scholar, an accomplished diplomat and an honest and decent man," Helms said.

He argued that senators who opposed Bolton's nomination did so because they also oppose the president's policies on a range of issues, "particularly the one involving missile defense."

Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, observed that Bolton was in line to "handle some of our most sensitive and difficult negotiations." And, he said, the nominee's "penchant for inflammatory rhetoric gives me pause about his ability to handle such negotiations."

Biden noted that Bolton had described the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- signed by the United States during the Clinton administration but never ratified by the Senate -- and similar pacts as "unenforceable treaties which provide illusory protections."

"I realize some hold that view," Biden said, but he added, "They're not people that I think should be in charge of promoting arms control and disarmament and nonproliferation matters."

Perhaps the sharpest comments came from Senator Byron Dorgan (Democrat, North Dakota), who charged that Bolton "doesn't care a whit about arms control" and would play the part of the proverbial "fox in a chicken coop" in his State position.

Bolton, who has most recently been a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based public policy group, was endorsed for the post by three former Republican secretaries of state -- Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburger.

Bolton hewed closely to policy positions previously enunciated by the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee March 29.

In an opening statement to the committee, Bolton assured members that he believes "sound, verifiable arms control agreements and energetic nonproliferation strategies can and should be critical elements in American foreign policy."

The nominee went on to quote Bush and Powell on a range of issues: he cited the President's expressed intent to reduce the number of U.S. nuclear weapons below START II levels; Powell's announced support for South Korea's efforts to engage the North, subject to "some concerns that exist;" the President's determination to build a missile defense system "at the earliest possible date;" and Powell's assertion that the ABM treaty with Russia "needs to be modified or eliminated or changed in some rather fundamental way."

On the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), he quoted Powell's earlier statement that "we will not be asking for the Congress to ratify... (the treaty) in this session." And on China he said the administration "will watch closely to be sure that China is meeting its commitments."

In a series of exchanges with committee Democrats, Bolton avoided moving far beyond those positions, repeatedly indicating that he would need to give further consideration to issues they raised before committing himself in detail.

When, for example, Biden asked him whether he believes that the ABM Treaty currently remains in force, despite the demise of the Soviet Union -- with which it was negotiated -- he responded, "I don't have a final opinion on that subject."

Again, when Biden asked whether the United States should continue to contribute to an international monitoring system regardless of whether the CTBT is submitted for approval, Bolton said a funding decision lies ahead, but "one doesn't take these steps precipitously."

The final outcome on his confirmation was foreshadowed at the committee level when Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin broke with his fellow Democrats, voting with all nine committee Republicans to send the nomination on to the full Senate.