Clinton Pushes for Test Ban Treaty

Trying to keep the focus on his programs rather than his problems, President Clinton on Tuesday chose a national laboratory as the backdrop for his appeal for a test ban treaty “to make sure that the world is safe from the threat of nuclear weapons.”

One day after proposing the first balanced budget in three decades, Clinton told scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory that he would increase spending on science and technology, “which are key to our success in the new global economy of the Information Age.”

Supercomputer technology, he added, is vital to Senate approval of the comprehensive test ban treaty, because such technology now enables America to maintain its nuclear stockpile without resorting to “a single explosion.”

America’s security “requires that we maintain a nuclear arsenal strong enough to deter any adversary and safe enough to retain the confidence of our military leaders, our political leaders and the American people,” Clinton said.

Before his speech, Clinton twice chose not to respond to questions shouted out by reporters on the subject of Monica S. Lewinsky, the former White House intern at the center of allegations of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Focusing on his budget agenda, Clinton appeared relaxed and cheerful, heartened by the friendly response from the scientific audience.

The laboratory, located 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe on a plateau ringed by snow-capped mountains, was established in 1943 as part of the national effort to develop an atomic bomb.

“Mr. President, you can tell from that applause that we warmly welcome you here?” said Energy Department Secretary Federico Pena, who accompanied Clinton on the visit to New Mexico.

Clinton’s budget proposal calls for funding increases in an array of scientific areas, including a $1.2-billion increase for basic research next year and $848 million more for applied research. Clinton has called for new spending on biomedical research, advanced computers, climate change, space and other areas.

The budget also would spend $517 million to modernize supercomputers, making them “1,000 times faster than when I took office” in January 1993, Clinton said.

Promoting his budget plan, Clinton pointed out that the last time America had a balanced budget was 1969, “the year that Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon.”

The 1999 budget, he said, “will pave the way for America’s next great leap forward over the next 30 years.”

The White House has supported a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty for several reasons, including the expectation that such an accord would make it harder for rogue states to gain nuclear weapons and limit the development of more sophisticated arms by nations that already have a nuclear capability.

During last week’s State of the Union address, Clinton announced that the treaty had been endorsed by four former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“By banning all nuclear tests for all time, we open a new era of security for America,” Clinton said Tuesday at Los Alamos.

At the same time, the accord’s political prospects depend to some degree on the confidence of the Senate that the United States will retain its nuclear readiness, a situation that depends on computer simulations and other technology.

“Of all the remarkable things these supercomputers will be able to accomplish, none will be more important than helping to make sure that the world is safe from the threat of nuclear weapons,” Clinton said.

Before his remarks, Clinton toured Los Alamos with laboratory director John Browne, who led a presentation of computer simulations as the president looked on with interest.

“What you’re seeing here is the temperature of the ocean’s surface as we model it,” Browne said as a large screen displayed a spinning globe. Another image of the Earth represented different ocean currents flowing east to west, with colors yellow, green, red and blue for different temperature levels, a type of simulation that could be valuable to researchers looking into global warming.

When the subject of nuclear blast simulations came up, Clinton declared: “This is of course the central issue in the debate. . . . Virtually everyone believes it [a test ban] is the right thing to do, as long as we can secure our own stockpile.”

Clinton then moved on to Albuquerque, where he shook hands with well-wishers who waited across the street from the restaurant where he dined on carne adovada (marinated pork) with Mayor Jim Baca.

“I love him, he’s my idol,” said Martha Castillo, 53, a homemaker. “He’s doing a good job,” she said, in an echo of public opinion polls that show record high ratings for the president’s job performance despite qualms about his character.

Later, at the downtown Civic Plaza, an upbeat Clinton spoke of a domestic agenda that features balancing the budget while also strengthening Social Security and taking on selected initiatives in education, Medicare, child care, science and other areas.

To a friendly, flag-waving crowd of several thousand, Clinton repeated his assertion that anticipated budget surpluses--perhaps $200 billion over five years--should not be spent or devoted to tax cuts before the nation agrees on a plan to preserve Social Security.

Clinton also promoted his new initiative to combat the exceptionally high dropout rate of Latino students, a message that resonated in the Southwest crowd. “We cannot have an America where there is a huge racial disparity in the dropout rate,” he proclaimed to applause.