By Terence Hunt
AP White House Correspondent
Saturday, Oct. 2, 1999; 11:29 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON –– The White House launched "a hurry up offense" Saturday to save a global nuclear test ban treaty, racing to build support for the landmark agreement while accusing Senate Republicans of trying to kill it with an unexpectedly quick vote.

After two years of inaction and without any hearings on the treaty, Senate GOP leaders abruptly decided Thursday to hold a vote Oct. 12.

"This is not what the Founding Fathers meant by advise and consent," Sandy Berger, the national security adviser, said in an interview Saturday. "This is hit and run."

The administration and its allies accused Republicans of rushing the vote in hopes of defeating the treaty. Democrats fear they are about 15 votes short of the 67 needed to ratify the agreement.

Trying to build support, President Clinton will speak about the treaty Tuesday when he signs a major defense bill at the Pentagon.

To demonstrate military backing for the agreement, Clinton will gather testimonials Wednesday from former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn, and Nobel laureate physicists.

Republicans say the treaty is flawed, in part because it would not prevent countries such as North Korea, Iraq and Iran from testing.

"We think it would put us in a weakened position internationally," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said Friday. "But since there have been all these calls and demands for a vote, we have offered to vote."

Traditionally, major treaties are debated at length in committee hearings before coming to a vote in the Senate.

"There has not been one day of hearings," Berger said. "This process has been short-circuited. We're dealing here with the most serious and sober matter that comes before the Senate and we have a hurry up offense."

The treaty calls for an outright ban on all nuclear testing. It has been signed by 152 nations, including the United States but it has been ratified only by 47 countries, the most recent Bulgaria on Wednesday. More significantly, the treaty has been ratified by only 23 of the 44 nuclear-capable countries that must ratify it for it to take effect.

To win ratification, the treaty requires approval by a two-thirds vote in the Senate. Even if all 45 Democrats support the treaty, 22 other Republicans must vote "yes" for it to be ratified.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will open three days of hearings on the treaty beginning Wednesday. The treaty normally would be considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but its chairman, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., is one of its foremost opponents. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, will present the administration's case.

Cohen is cutting short a trip to Asia to return to Washington for a meeting Monday of Clinton's national security team. In Singapore, Cohen said Saturday that ratification of the treaty would send a strong signal to India and Pakistan, as well as other nations, to temper their nuclear ambitions.

A former Republican senator, Cohen said he wants "to talk to former colleagues and ask them to keep an open mind." Shelton, also in Asia, may return early, too.

"It's a verifiable treaty," Cohen said, adding that the United States has the technology to ensure nuclear tests are not conducted.

However, The Washington Post quoted unidentified senior officials as saying the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded in a new assessment of its capabilities that it cannot monitor low-level nuclear tests in Russia precisely enough to ensure compliance with the treaty.

The paper reported in Sunday's editions that the new assessment was shared with senior congressional staffers before Lott changed course and scheduled the treaty for an early vote.

Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a treaty opponent, told the Post that new information on Russian testing activity will be made available to the Senate during briefings and hearings this week.

The United States stopped nuclear testing in 1992 and relies on supercomputer simulations to test the nuclear arsenal. "This is about whether we can stop other countries from testing," Berger said.

"For the United States to say, 'No,' we're going to go the other way, we're going to go in the direction of the nuclear testers, is crazy," Berger said.