ABSTRACT
Israel's June 1981 air attack on the Iraqi nuclear research reactor revived interest in a set of policy issues that the Ronald Reagan Administration seemed inclined to ignore, but which had enjoyed high visibility during the Carter Administration. In the wake of the Baghdad raid, the Reagan Administration hastily issued a policy statement endorsing nonproliferation, but it was clearly responding to events rather than articulating well-planned objectives. Nonproliferation policy presented the Reagan Administration with the challenge of articulating a policy that augured to be effective abroad while maintaining support in Congress. Nonproliferation policy is a prime example of the reassertion of congressional foreign policy prerogatives in the 1970s. The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy was designed to reconcile the demands of nuclear technology and democracy. The Joint Committee was more reluctant than the Administration to share nuclear weapons technology with allies.
