WASHINGTON - September 17 - Thirty four independent experts and organizations sent a letter to members of Congress today asking them to resist pressure to rush toward approving the U.S.-India nuclear agreement in its current form.

The full five page letter is available online.

High-profile signatories to the letter include nuclear weapons experts such as Ambassador James Goodby, Ambassador George Bunn, Professor Sidney Drell, Professor Frank von Hippel, former government official Richard Garwin, former government official Morton Halperin, former government official Jack Mendelsohn, and Ambassador Norman Wulf. "Congress needs to actively support measures that would help address the numerous flaws and ambiguities in the nuclear deal," said Leonor Tomero, an expert on the U.S.-India agreement at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

The Bush administration submitted the agreement to Congress on September 10. If approved, the agreement would allow nuclear trade with India, reversing decades of non-proliferation policy. The Bush administration is pushing for a congressional vote by the end of September.