Weaponry warning sounded
by Bret Bradigan

The U.S. pays Russian scientists to do nothing. And, considering the world we live in, it is money well spent.
So explained Wayne Glass, Ph.D. , currently senior adviser, Center for Defense Information, and formerly Senate staffer to New Mexico's Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services committee, the policy-making vineyards in which Glass toiled.
Though speaking of his Beltway experiences, Glass told his audience at Friday's Rotary Club of Ojai meeting that he grew up in New Mexico and his rural roots extend to Ojai, home of his parents-in-law, Jack and Margaret Huyler, and long-time friend, Bob Chesley, who provided the introduction.
Glass described Senate staffers as being besieged on all sides for time and commitments. "We are triage people for our senator," dealing with demands from other politicians, from constituents and lobbyists. "We make the selection for what is the most important, what can wait until tomorrow, and what we can ignore."
Senate law-making is a year-round business, Glass said, but it does follow a cycle, beginning with the president's State of the Union address, hearings in the spring, followed by drafts of legislation in May, with numerous committee markups, floor debates and partisan bickering along the way.
"Partisanship rears its head at a very low level and goes on through the whole process," he said. "It is a shortcoming of our system."
Though, occasionally, worthy causes rise above the fray, reminding Glass that good can be done. He described the recent and successful effort to get Congressional Gold Medals for the surviving Najavo code talkers, whose unbreakable code was key to World War II military operations, as an example. "That kind of work I find incredibly rewarding.
Despite the complexity of the apparatus, and the proliferation of professional lobbyists, there is still plenty of room for citizen involvement. The key to success in pushing an issue is to keep the e-mails ("staffers love e-mail," he said) and letters coming. "If you're really into getting something done, then you've done your homework," he said. By providing legislative staff with as much of the research, forms, and necessary files as possible, you can greatly increase your chances of success, Glass said.
Also, call before 9:30 a.m. and after 5:30 p.m., he said.
Other issues don't lend themselves to easy solutions. Glass pointed out that intelligence briefings reveal "that half of nuclear weapons are not under control today."
In a world of tinder-dry tensions where rogue states are desperate for cash and terrorists are desperately raising cash, it makes sense to pay nuclear scientists to "not take a vacation in Baghad," Glass said.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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