UNITED STATES TO INCREASE SPENDING FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY.

Concern that nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union remain "very vulnerable" to theft has prompted the Clinton administration to allocate $330 million for new security measures over the next six years, a U.S. Energy Department official said February 28. Visits to several nuclear storage sites in the region last year revealed antiquated security measures consisting largely of "guards, guns, and gates." he said. Projections that Middle Eastern countries could accumulate up to $1 trillion in oil revenues over the next two decades was cited as an additional factor in the decision to aid some 70 facilities in Belarus, Latvia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The United States hopes to reach agreements with the remainder of the former Soviet states in the next year or two. Funding is to increase from $2 million in 1994 and $70 million this year to just under $100 million next year. (9)

Iran Promoting Inter-Tajik Negotiations.