FOCUS ON BLACK MARKET IN NUCLEAR ARMS

One of the achievements of the Jimmy Carter presidency was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union at a time when both the United States and the Soviets had enough nuclear firepower in their arsenals not only to wipe out each other, but the rest of the world as well. Several times.

Now former President Carter has joined other former world leaders -- Mikhail Gorbachev among them -- to appeal for total nuclear disarmament in a world viewed as having fewer tensions than the Cold War era that fostered arms competition and expansion.

Unfortunately, the noble idea of a world free of nuclear weapons ignores the plain facts. For the time being, there are no superpowers struggling for domination, which has certainly shifted the focus of military might.

Some would say the United States has moved too quickly to disarm itself, not just in nuclear capability, but in overall military strength and readiness. Much of the ballyhooed surplus in the federal budget can be attributed to drastic decreases in military spending -- but at what cost? Is the nation, in fact, prepared to defend itself or take military initiatives?

Beyond that debate, however, is an even uglier scenario. It isn't just the big nations that have nuclear arms these days. India and Pakistan made international headlines recently with their tests of nuclear weapons. And there are any number of nations with rogue leaders -- let's put Saddam Hussein at the top of the list -- who are trying every ploy they know to acquire nuclear weapons.

It is much to simplistic to think that a general agreement on eliminating nuclear weapons would have any real effect. Look at the history of weaponry. Armies no longer battle with longbow and swords because gunpowder came along. Weapons fade from the scene only when they are replaced by stronger, more terrifying systems of warfare.

Keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of despots should be the main goal. Most tiny countries that claim to have nuclear capabilities have reached that level of weapons sophistication through illegal means. The responsibility, then, is to crack down on the black market of the items needed to make nuclear weapons. That is an objective of value to all the nations of the world.

While the world continues to disarm nuclear warheads as a result of SALT and its successor treaties, responsible nations should not lose sight of the military need to maintain a solid arsenal of weapons. In this day and age, that includes nuclear warheads.