[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S917-S919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                             By Mr. HELMS:

  S. 1562. A bill to require the President to give notice of the 
intention of the United States to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic-
Missile Treaty, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.


   the strategic anti-missile revitalization and security act of 1996

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, there has never been a greater champion of 
ballistic missile defense than that great American, Ronald Wilson 
Reagan, and today happens to be President Reagan's 85th birthday. I 
decided this morning to introduce the Strategic Anti-missile 
Revitalization and Security Act of 1996--for short we call it the 
``STARS Act''--legislation proposing to begin the timely and complete 
withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, and to clear the way for implementing 
President Reagan's vision of a national strategic missile defense 
system to protect the American people from ballistic missile attack.
  Today's greatest emerging threat to America's national security lies 
in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We all know that. 
According to the CIA, at this moment more than 30 countries possess 
ballistic missiles, and more than 25 others either have, or are in the 
process of acquiring, nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.
  Many of these nations--for example, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and 
North Korea--are clearly hostile to the United States. It is indeed 
probable that in the not-too-distant future a hostile tyrant will 
possess ballistic missiles capable of reaching major population centers 
in the United States.
  Obviously, Mr. President, with such an ominous threat emerging, one 
would assume that the United States would be actively developing 
defensive technology to protect the American people against this 
danger; and one would assume that the Clinton administration surely is 
working, in cooperation with a bipartisan majority in Congress, to make 
certain that the United States is never, never exposed to the danger of 
a hostile nuclear attack by a terrorist regime.
  Well, such assumptions are wrong. The Clinton administration in fact 
has aggressively blocked every effort by Congress to implement a 
national missile defense system to protect the American people from 
this very real threat.
  Why? Because, the administration argues weakly, developing such 
defenses would violate an antiquated arms control agreement--a relic of 
the cold war known as the ABM Treaty.
  Mr. President, the ABM Treaty is not only out-of-date and 
unnecessary--it 

[[Page S918]]
has become a threat to America's national security. Like latter-day 
Luddites, the opponents of ballistic missile defense are now using the 
ABM Treaty as a tool to obstruct any and all progress toward the 
deployment of missile defense technology.
  During debate over the defense authorization bill, for example, the 
opponents of ballistic missile defense stood on the Senate floor and 
used the ABM Treaty in a last-ditch effort to prevent Congress from 
passing legislation to deploy a national system to protect U.S. 
citizens against weapons of mass destruction. When they lost, President 
Clinton then used the ABM Treaty as an excuse to veto the defense 
authorization bill, thus preventing approval of funding for national 
missile defense.
  Mr. President, this treaty has become nothing more than an excuse for 
inaction. But the time for excuses is over. The United States needs a 
national missile defense. And if the ABM Treaty is preventing us from 
building and deploying essential defenses to protect the American 
people from even the most limited ballistic missile attack, then the 
time has come for the United States to withdraw from the ABM Treaty.
  Mr. President, my legislation will do just that. The STARS Act does 
three things:
  First, it directs the President to notify Russia of United States 
intent to withdraw from the ABM Treaty 1 month after enactment of the 
act, as legally permitted by the ABM Treaty.
  Second, it prohibits the use of Federal funds to enforce the ABM 
Treaty beginning 7 months after the bill's enactment.
  Finaly, it requires the President to certify to Congress that the 
United States has abrogated the ABM Treaty on the date of U.S. 
withdrawal.
  Mr. President, through its blind allegiance to this obsolete treaty, 
the Clinton administration appears to be ready to leave the American 
people strategically naked as hostile nations rush forward to their 
relentless pursuit of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. 
Indeed, in their zeal to stop Congress from deploying national missile 
defenses, this administration seems willing to say or do anything to 
argue that the ballistic missile threat does not exist.
  I must say I was stunned when I noted the politicization of the most 
recent National Intelligence Estimate [NIE] to support the 
administration's position in this regard. The 1996 National 
Intelligence Estimate declared that no country other than the 
``declared nuclear powers'' would threaten the ``continental United 
States'' with a ballistic missile for 15 years. Note carefully that 
they said the ``continental United States''. First, this is simply not 
so. The 1995 estimate concluded, for example, that North Korea may be 
able to threaten the United States in 5 years because it is an 
indisputable fact that North Korea is developing a series of missiles 
with ranges in excess of 3000 kilometers.

  Second, I am astonished that this administration has somehow managed 
to write two of the 50 States of the Union completely out of the Union. 
I cannot understand why this administration draws a distinction in the 
1996 NIE between threats to the United States and threats to the 
continental United States. The last time I checked, nearly 2 million 
U.S. citizens live in Alaska and Hawaii. Are these people less 
deserving of protection than people living in Arkansas, or Michigan for 
that matter? I think not.
  Third, it boggles the mind that this administration can make 
decisions about the ballistic missile threat to this country, while 
explicitly ignoring the arsenals of declared nuclear powers. Communist 
China not only fields two dozen submarine launched ballistic missiles, 
several hundred heavy bomber warheads, and roughly 24 long- and medium-
range ballistic missiles, but has several modernization initiatives 
underway. China is developing for deployment by the end of the 
millennium four intermediate-range and long-range ballistic missile 
systems, and we have unambiguous evidence that China is pursuing MIRV-
technology.
  Nor can we afford to dismiss Russia's massive nuclear capabilities. 
Russia still has 12,000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, as it slips 
and slides back down the slippery-slope of political reform. When 
President Clinton declared in his State of the Union address that 
today, for the first time no Russian nuclear missiles are pointed at 
the United States, he just happened to omit the fact that it requires 
only about 8 minutes of reprogramming to turn those Russian missiles 
right back at us.
  We must not ignore in such cavalier fashion the trends to reinstate 
and restore communism in Russia. It is growing increasingly possible 
that Russia's massive nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of 
authoritarian leaders with uncertain intentions before the end of this 
century. We of course hope this will not happen, but we must prepare 
for the possibility.
  Even those who unwisely discount the possibility of direct conflict 
with potentially hostile regimes in Moscow and Beijing, must not 
discount the possibility of an accidental launch, nor the cooperation 
and collaboration between countries engaged in the development of 
ballistic missiles. We know, for example, that China has sold extensive 
missile technology to Iran, Syria, and North Korea; we know that Iran 
is working with North Korea and Syria on various missiles. We know that 
14 countries around the globe have the capability to field some type of 
Soviet-made missile, and we know that Russia recently was detected 
shipping ballistic missile parts to Iraq.
  These are all real threats that the administration would ignore at 
the peril of the American people, because the fact is, the 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile 
technology is rampant, the threat of ballistic missile attack on the 
United States is a present and growing danger, and nothing is being 
done to protect the American people from it. The administration has an 
almost messianic devotion to the ABM Treaty which I find bizarre. There 
is, you see, far more concern about protecting a treaty not worth the 
paper it is written on, than with protecting American citizens against 
horrible nuclear attacks.
  So, Mr. President, the STARS Act, which I am introducing today, will 
remove the ABM Treaty as an obstacle, and instead pave the way for the 
deployment of defenses when necessary to protect American citizens 
against weapons of terror. And the sooner, the better. We cannot afford 
to wait until the administration wakes up and opens its eyes. By then, 
it may be too late. It takes years to move from the enactment of 
legislation in Congress to the deployment of a defensive system.
  If Congress passes legislation funding such a system this year, it 
may take as long as eight years before the system is operational.
  It may, in fact take longer. Think back. Did any Senator predict 8 
years ago the advanced stages of North Korea's nuclear program? Did 
anyone here know, before the fact, how close Iraq was to obtaining a 
nuclear weapon just prior to the start of the Gulf War? Is any Senator 
prepared to stake the security of the American people on blind faith? 
Thee are questions that we must confront.
  I am not. We must begin consideration of the STARS Act. Removing the 
ABM Treaty is critical to any strategy for protecting U.S. citizens 
against chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons mounted on ballistic 
missiles. In the coming months, I anticipate the introduction, under 
the auspices of the distinguished majority leader, of a comprehensive 
bill identifying the critical aspects of a ballistic missile defense. 
In support of this effort, and in connection with the STARS Act, the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will of which I am chairman, will 
hold hearings as soon as practicable to undertake a comprehensive 
review of the ABM Treaty. Providing for the defense of America against 
these weapons must be among our highest priorities during this session 
of Congress.
  Mr. President, Ronald Reagan said it best back in 1993, in one of his 
last public speeches--he had learned of the Clinton administration's 
decision to gut the Strategic Defense Initiative: ``I may not be a 
Rhodes Scholar'' he told the graduating cadets at The Citadel, ``but I 
do know one thing: if we can protect America with a defensive shield 
from incoming missiles, we should by all means do so. . . . (And) if 
the new Administration thinks we are no longer at risk, they need to 
open their eyes and take a good hard look at the world.''

[[Page S919]]

  Amen, Mr. President, and, again to you, sir, out there in California, 
happy birthday. It was a joy to hear your voice today on the telephone. 
God bless you--and as you always used to say--God bless America.
  Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1562

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Strategic Anti-Missile 
     Revitalization and Security Act of 1996''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Constitution vests in the Government of the United 
     States responsibility to provide for the common defense and 
     promote the general welfare of the American people.
       (2) Due to limitations imposed by the Anti-Ballistic 
     Missile Treaty, the United States is prohibited from 
     deploying a national missile defense capable of defending 
     America against even the most limited of ballistic missile 
     attack.
       (3) The concept of mutual assured destruction which 
     underlies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is 
     technologically and geostrategically outdated and cannot 
     serve as a basis for stability in a multipolar world 
     characterized by rampant proliferation of weapons of mass 
     destruction and ballistic missile technology.
       (4) The possibility of ballistic missile attack upon the 
     United States by a rogue country constitutes a clear, 
     present, and growing threat to the supreme interests of the 
     United States.

     SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO GIVE NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL.

       No later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, the President shall give notice to the Russian 
     Federation of the intention of the United States to withdraw 
     from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, as permitted under 
     Article XV of that Treaty.

     SEC. 4. PROHIBITIONS.

       Beginning 210 days after the date of the enactment of this 
     Act, appropriated funds shall not be obligated or expended 
     for the purposes of proscribing, enforcing, or implementing 
     any provision of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

     SEC. 5. ACTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT.

       On the date that is 180 days after the date of the 
     notification of the President to the Russian Federation under 
     section 3, the President shall certify to Congress that the 
     Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is no longer interpreted to 
     apply to the development, deployment, or operation of any 
     missile defense system or air defense system of the United 
     States, including any component of such a system or upgrade 
     of such a system or component.

     SEC. 6. DEFINITION.

       As used in this Act, the term ``Anti-Ballistic Missile 
     Treaty'' means the Treaty Between the United States of 
     America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the 
     Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, signed at 
     Moscow on May 26, 1972, with related protocol, signed at 
     Moscow on July 3, 1974.

                          ____________________