JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., DELAWARE, CHAIRMAN

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, MASSACHUSETTS STROM THURMOND, SOUTH CAROLINA

HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, OHIO ORRIN G. HATCH, UTAH

DENNIS DECONCIN}, ARIZONA ALAN K. SIMPSON, WYOMING

PATRICK J. LEAHY, VERMONT CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, IOWA

HOWELL HEFLIN, ALABAMA ARLEN SPECTER, PENNSYLVANIA ‘.

PAUL SIMON, ILLINOIS GORDON J. HUMPHREY, NEW HAMPSHIRE nite cates enate

HERBERT KOHL, WISCONSIN

MARK H. GITENSTEIN, CHIEF COUNSEL

DIANA HUFFMAN, STAFF DIRECTOR COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
TERRY L. WOOTEN, MINORITY CHIEF COUNSEL
RJ. DUKE SHORT, MINORITY STAFF DIRECTOR WASHINGTON, DC 20510-6275

July 14, 1989
Dr. Joshua Lederberg, President
Rockefeller University
1230 York Avenue SR
New York, NY 10021-6399

     
  

JUL 19 1889

\ Pe
I am writing to request your opinion on a piece OF CETHERR
legislation that I have introduced. Senate Bill 993, the
Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act, would prohibit the
development or manufacture of germ warfare devices and make it
a crime to help a foreign nation acquire them. My bill is an
effort to implement the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention
(BWC)--to put its prohibitions into our domestic criminal code.

Dear Dr. Lederberg: &
pREOes

  

On July 26, the Senate Judiciary Committee will conduct a
hearing on S. 993. My staff contacted your office to see if
you might be available to testify at the hearing, which I am
chairing. To my regret, we were told that you would be out of
the country.

But I wanted to solicit your views, ideally for inclusion
in the record of the hearing. Given your knowledge of the BWC
and your role on the NAS committee examining biological
weapons, I wonder if you think such legislation is a good idea.
Should we have criminal penalties against the development of
bio-weapons? Would it put the United States in a better
position to demand that other countries fully comply with the
BWC? (Article IV of the BWC requires signatories to "take any
necessary measures" to combat bio-weapons, and the Second
Review Conference in 1986 urged nations to strengthen the BWC
by enacting domestic legislation.)

I look forward to hearing from you. If you or your staff
have any questions, please call Keenen Peck on my staff at
(202) 224-1555. Please call, too, if you would like me to 7 4
reserve a spot for your observations in the hearing record on y \n
July 26. I apologize for giving such short notice, and I would ' ah
certainly understand if you decided to "take a pass."

A copy of S. 993 is enclosed. Thank you for your
consideration.

DD AL

ob ohh U.S.S.