[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 61 (Monday, April 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MISSILE PROLIFERATION, ONE OF THE GREATEST THREATS TO AMERICA IN THE 
                              21ST CENTURY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call 
attention to an issue that is dominating much of the discussion of the 
House and Senate Armed Services and National Security Committees 
dealing with missile defense.
  Those of us who saw CNN yesterday report that the Russians have now 
decided to offer for sale the SS25 missile launch architecture to other 
nations of the world realize that the potential for this technology, 
that in fact could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile to any 
part of our country, is in fact being offered for sale to Third World 
nations and to nations to be used as a space launch assembly. This 
greatly concerns me and many of my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, because of 
the potential for a rogue nation to obtain this technology in a very 
short period of time.
  In addition, we see where the Iranians are now putting together 
cruise missiles along the Straits of Hormuz, which could threaten the 
shipping lanes in that area.
  Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that one of the greatest threats that 
we will have to face as we approach the 21st century is that of missile 
proliferation.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, there are three specific areas we have to focus 
on. The first deals with cruise missiles, low-flying, the kind of 
missiles we saw Saddham Hussein use in Desert Storm against the 
Israelis, known as the SCUDS.
  Cruise missiles are currently in the hands of 77 nations around the 
world, Mr. Speaker. In fact, 20 nations of the world are not producing 
cruise missiles. In fact, we in this country, much to my objection, 
just allowed the technology to be transferred to China to allow them to 
increase their cruise missile technology in terms of their motors to 
drive those cruise missiles.
  It is an area we need to focus on, and Mr. Speaker, one that we are 
not putting enough emphasis on in terms of national security interests.
  Mr. Speaker, the second concern dealing with missiles deals with 
theater missiles, those systems that could protect our troops from an 
attack in a
 theater of operation, like we saw the SCUDS do in Desert Storm. We are 
working aggressively in this area, Mr. Speaker. The President supports 
theater missile defense. I support that effort. I want to make sure we 
give General O'Neill the maximum support possible in terms of theater 
missile defense.

  The third area deals with national missile defense. Most of the 
public at large in this country does not realize that currently we have 
no protection against a deliberate or accidental launch of one missile 
aimed at our mainland.
  What further concerns me, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that China now has 
a missile, the CSS II, that has a range of 2,000 miles. North Korea is 
developing a missile, the Taipodong II missile, that has a range of 
several thousand kilometers, that could one day reach Guam and perhaps 
even Alaska. We have no defense against those kinds of missiles.
  In fact, as I mentioned at the onset of my comments tonight, Russia 
is now offering the SS25 architecture, one of their main missile launch 
systems, to other nations.
  Mr. Speaker, with these things in mind, we are now trying to provide 
for Members of Congress a detailed assessment of the threat and what 
our capabilities are in terms of missile defense technology. We are 
holding five hearings in the Committee on National Security on missile 
defense, the technology, where we are today, the threat, and what we 
have bought and what we have received for the dollars we have invested.
  Mr. Speaker, I would invite all of our colleagues to come out 
tomorrow morning in the Rayburn Building in H.R. 2118, the Committee on 
National Security main hearing room, where we will have assembled the 
technologies that we have purchased with our missile defense moneys 
over the past decade or so. Members will be able to see these 
technologies, ask questions, and be briefed by General O'Neill and 
those people in the Navy, the Air Force, and the Army who have been 
working on missile defense technology.
  Following that walk-through, which is open to every Member of the 
House and Senate, we will have a press conference at 11 o'clock and 
then open the entire display to the public. From 11:00 until 1:00 the 
public is invited to come to 2118 Rayburn, where they can see the kinds 
of technology that we have developed over the years and that is ready 
to go into deployment, in some cases, over the next several years.
  Finally, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in that same hearing room, 
General O'Neill will come before the Subcommittee on Research and 
Development of the Committee on National Security, and we will explore 
in great detail with him the technologies that are in fact available 
today, those that are being deployed, and those technologies that are 
on the horizon for us to be researching and looking to implement.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask all of our colleagues to join in this 
assessment of where we are going with missile defense technology, and 
to join with a bipartisan effort in making sure that Members of 
Congress understand the threat that is there. Some would say that with 
the demise of the former Soviet Union there is no more threat.
  Mr. Speaker, one only has to look at what is happening in the real 
world to understand that we are today unprotected.


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