Senator sets sights on old Russia arms.(Chicago Tribune)

WASHINGTON _ With his return as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Indiana Republican Richard Lugar plans to redirect attention to a $1 billion-a-year program to help Russia secure and dispose of huge quantities of Cold War nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

During his second tenure, Lugar will have an important voice in the debate over how the nation fights terrorism and on a future conflict with Iraq. The focus on Russia's decaying nuclear arsenal will be a significant area in the effort to keep terrorists from acquiring mass-murder weapons.

"The greatest crisis is terrorists getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction," said Lugar, an independent-minded Republican who also chaired the committee from 1985-86.

"We ought to identify which countries have weapons of mass destruction, and as an international community, we ought to make sure that these countries have the means to make this material secure."

Known colloquially as Nunn-Lugar, after Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nun, D-Ga., the effort to secure and destroy a large share of Russia's weapons has been hobbled in recent years by cost overruns, critical government audits and doubts from powerful conservatives, including some within the Bush administration.

Critics argue that the initiative, carried out largely during the presidency of Bill Clinton, simply modernizes and does not reduce Russia's weapons capability. Influential voices within the administration have questioned the wisdom of the aid to Russia.

"We need to be aware of the fact that Russia, in particular, claims to lack the financial resources to eliminate weapons of mass destruction but continues to invest scarce resources in the development of newer, more sophisticated (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and other weapons," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.