DATE=10/28/1999 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=U-S NUKES / WORLDWIDE NUMBER=5-44640 BYLINE=ANDRE DE NESNERA DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: /// EDS: This is the first of a two-part series on a recently released Pentagon report on the stationing of American nuclear weapons overseas. The second will deal specifically with Cuba. Both pieces can be used for weekend broadcasts. /// INTRO: An article in "The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" chronicles the stationing of U-S nuclear weapons overseas and for the first time provides a glimpse of U-S nuclear policy at the height of the Cold War. National Security Correspondent Andre de Nesnera spoke with the authors of the article - and he filed this report from Washington. TEXT: The article is based on a recently declassified, Pentagon history dealing with the deployment of U-S nuclear weapons overseas from 1945 to 1977. One of the co-authors of the article - weapons expert Robert Norris - says during that time period, American nuclear weapons were stationed in 27 countries and U-S territories - such as Puerto-Rico. /// NORRIS ACT /// At the peak period - which is the late sixties and early seventies - there were approximately 12,000 U-S nuclear weapons outside the borders (of the United States). About 7,000 of those were in NATO Europe. About 2,000 in Pacific countries: in places like Korea, the Philippines, Guam and Okinawa up until 1972 - and then about another 3,000 were what the Pentagon calls `afloat' - or on the high seas aboard ships of various kinds: aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates and attack submarines. /// END ACT /// Mr. Norris says the weapons stationed overseas represented all types in the U-S nuclear arsenal: from land mines to long-range missiles, from naval weapons to surface-to-air missiles. Co-author William Arkin says the declassified Pentagon history reveals for the first time that the United States built two kinds of nuclear weapons. The first one had the bomb's fissile material - the plutonium and uranium cores - as an integral part of the nuclear weapon. But in the second variety, the plutonium and uranium cores were separated from the nuclear weapon - and only inserted when needed. /// ARKIN ACT /// And why did the (U-S) "Atomic Energy Commission" build two types of nuclear weapons? The very reason was because there were places like Japan and Iceland, France, where host nation sensitivities would allow no nuclear weapon on their soil. And yet the "Strategic Air Command" and the Air Force and NATO wanted nuclear weapons in their arsenals - this was during the Cold War - and so the United States was able to put nuclear weapons on those soils and yet say publicly to the governments: "We do not have nuclear weapons here" because the nuclear materials were held somewhere else. /// END ACT /// Mr. Arkin says the Pentagon history also reveals clear instances where host nations were not informed of the presence of U-S nuclear weapons on their soil. One such case was Morocco, which began receiving complete U-S nuclear bombs in July 1954. /// SECOND ARKIN ACT /// This is prior to Morocco becoming an independent country, it was a French territory at the time - where nuclear weapons were stored at American S- A-C bases, "Strategic Air Command" bases in Morocco - and it was explicitly stated that the French government should not be told of that. So we both have explicit examples - as in the case of French Morocco - and what appears to be clear evidence that in other cases - such as in Iceland or Greenland - which is a territory of Denmark - the host nations were just not aware. /// END ACT /// It took Mr. Arkin and Mr. Norris (as well as the third co-author, William Burr) several years to get the Pentagon history declassified under the "Freedom of Information Act" which allows individuals to request specific documents heretofore deemed secret. Mr. Norris says what they received was a 330-page document, including an alphabetical list of countries where US nuclear weapons were stationed. But he says parts of that list were censored. /// SECOND NORRIS ACT /// When the Pentagon gave us this document - which took about five years for them to declassify - there were blacked out parts of it and among the blacked out parts of it, were the names of some of these countries: some of the countries were left in, some were blacked out. The Pentagon acknowledged there were nuclear weapons in Cuba or the United Kingdom or West Germany or some other places and why they chose to black others out remains to be seen. /// END ACT /// Mr. Norris says since the list was in alphabetical order and using other corroborating evidence, they could fill in the gaps. For example 18 countries were blacked out - including Canada, the Philippines, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Mr. Norris says one blacked out country in the alphabetical listing still remains a mystery: it falls between Canada and Cuba. Asked to assess the just-released article, Pentagon officials repeated the long-standing U-S policy of not commenting on the location of American nuclear weapons. At a recent briefing, senior spokesman Ken Bacon said the article contained some errors - but he did not elaborate. (Signed) // EDS: Here is the complete list of the 27 `destinations' of U-S nuclear weapons overseas. Those that were blacked out in the Pentagon report are in capital letters and one remains a mystery: Alaska, CANADA, ???, Cuba, GREENLAND, Guam, Hawaii, ICELAND, JAPAN, Johnston Island, KWAJALEIN, Midway, MOROCCO, OKINAWA, PHILIPPINES, Puerto Rico, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, SPAIN, TAIWAN. Nato Europe: BELGIUM, FRANCE, GREECE, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, TURKEY, United Kingdom, West Germany. The United States currently stations between 6- 8,000 nuclear weapons in seven European countries: Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom. NEB/ADEN/KL 28-Oct-1999 13:37 PM EDT (28-Oct-1999 1737 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .