Members of the Republican Party in Congress are objecting, loudly, after a key Democrat leader invited America’s enemies to have full access to one of the nation’s secret weapons facilities.
“I am leading my colleagues in demanding that President Biden revoke this misguided invitation to our adversaries in Beijing and Moscow that grants them unprecedented access and insight into our nuclear weapons,” said GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik in an interview with Fox.
“Inviting Communist China and Russia to have a front row seat for our sensitive nuclear weapons tests will give them invaluable information on how to defeat our nuclear capabilities and improve their own.”
It was Joe Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, who issued the invitation to China and Russia to have “unprecedented access” to the Nevada National Security Site, run by the Department of Energy.
Stefanik led a coalition of 18 House Republicans to offer pushback to Granholm over access to the nuclear testing site.
Fox reported a letter to Granhalm blasted Biden’s appointee for her actions.
“Bloomberg reported in September that the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration invited Chinese and Russian officials to tour the site to prove the U.S. is upholding a three-decade moratorium against testing nuclear weapons,” the report explained.
Stefanik continued, “At a time when our adversaries are growing their nuclear stockpiles to undermine America’s leadership, allowing them access to one of our nuclear test sites will only advance this pursuit and lead to our own destruction.”
Bloomberg had reported that the NNSA handed out invitations to Chinese and Russian officials to tour the location where the U.S. conducts sensitive nuclear experimentation.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., also signed the letter, and charged that allowing foreign experts to watch U.S. nuclear testing activities “allows them to derive our methods and procedures and this destroys deterrence.”
Lamborn, who heads the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, told Fox it would amount to a threat to the nation’s security.
“I was stunned to hear recent reports of Biden administration officials inviting citizens from our two greatest adversaries to observe U.S. nuclear weapons tests,” he said.
The letter informed Granholm that China has previously refused to engage in discussions on its own nuclear expansion.
The DOE strategy likely would “embolden” their work on that.
Fox reported in addition to Stefanik, Lamborn and Wittman, fellow Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.; James Moylan, R-Guam; Bill Posey, R-Fla.; Pat Fallon, R-Texas; Chris Smith, R-N.J.; Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa; Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.; Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn.; John Moolenaar, R-Mich.; Lance Gooden, R-Texas; Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.; Dale Strong, R-Ala.; Julia Letlow, R-La.; Robert Aderholt, R-Ala.; and Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, also co-signed the letter.