US should keep Congress regularly informed on nuclear talks with Saudi Arabia: GAO

US Departments of State and Energy should commit to regular, substantive briefings to Congress on nuclear cooperation negotiations with Saudi Arabia, said a congressional watchdog in a report. Government Accountability Office (GA) said on May 4 that Congress should consider amending Atomic Energy Act to specify timeliness and substance of briefings.

“It is unclear wher Departments of State and Energy kept Congress ‘fully and currently informed’ of nuclear cooperation negotiations with Saudi Arabia, as required by Atomic Energy Act,” said GAO in its report.

current and prior US ministrations have engd in discussions and negotiations about nuclear cooperation with Saudi government after countries signed a memorandum of understanding related to it. However, negotiations have been stalled since two countries have t been able to resolve disagreements on several nproliferation conditions.

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Concerns over n-proliferation

According to watchdog, one of conditions was Saudi Arabia agreeing to enrichment and reprocessing restrictions and signing an ditional protocol with International Atomic Energy ncy (IAEA), which would have allowed IAEA to obtain ditional information about and access to Saudi nuclear activities.

re have been concerns over Saudi Arabia’s commitment to n-proliferation of nuclear weapons, especially after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s statement in 2018. Crown Prince told a news channel that Saudi Arabia is t interested in acquiring nuclear weapon but would do so if Iran tries to acquire one.

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GAO said in its report that re is a lack of clarity on which US ncies were present at or aware of various interactions, except formal negotiations, where nuclear cooperation may have been discussed. congressional watchdog ded that it was unable to determine wher ncies kept committees fully and currently informed.

“By committing to regular briefings to Congress on nuclear cooperation negotiations and initiatives, State could better support congressional oversight on nuclear nproliferation matters,” said GAO.

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(Im credit: US State Department)