[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H10568-H10569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    REVIEW OF TODAY'S HEARING IN THE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY

  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 this evening, or this 
afternoon, to review a hearing that was held this morning in the House 
Committee on National Security. I think that this should be of concern 
to every Member of this body. The hearing this morning, which lasted 
for approximately 3 hours, had before us Secretary Perry; Secretary of 
Defense, General Shalikashvili, Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff; 
and Gen. Wayne Downing, director of the Downing Assessment Task Force. 
General Downing is the author of the report that was done following the 
attack that resulted in the deaths of 19 of our troops in that housing 
complex in Saudi Arabia jut a few short months ago.
  Mr. Speaker, this hearing today was important because it revealed 
some concerns that I raised that I think should be the concern of every 
Member of this institution. During the discussion by General Downing of 
his assessment of the attack on the barracks in Saudi Arabia, he made 
some very critical comments about the Pentagon and the Defense 
Department and what we should have done and could have done to better 
protect our troops.
  First of all, Mr. Speaker, one of the suggestions that he made was 
that the Pentagon needed to provide more focus on the operation in the 
Middle East in terms of protecting our pilots and the enforcement of 
the no-fly zone for the Iraqis. It was because we did not have it as a 
separate line item in the budget where we could provide adequate 
resources, where we could have had the backup materials and equipment 
in place to better support the command officer in that theater. When he 
made that comment and that suggestion, I was taken aback, Mr. Speaker, 
because exactly 1 year ago the House Committee on National Security 
included as a part of our defense authorization bill a very specific 
requirement addressing that very concern because a year ago we felt the 
same thing. We felt there was not enough focus within the Pentagon in 
terms of prioritizing resources for the Middle Eastern operation. We 
asked for that, and even though the Pentagon certified to us just a few 
short weeks ago that they were doing that, in fact they in fact had 
not done that.

  So here we were recommending something that now after the fact we 
find out perhaps helped cause the loss of life in that barracks.

[[Page H10569]]

  Secondarily, Mr. Speaker, they said we need more focus on terrorism, 
and I pointed out in the hearing, and I will point out to our 
colleagues, that it was our Committee on National Security in a 
bipartisan manner and this House in cooperation with the other body 
that included over $200 million of additional funds for antiterrorism 
initiatives to properly protect our troops, and when we approved that 
funding this year the President and the Secretary of Defense were 
criticizing us, saying we were giving the military more money than what 
they needed. These very dollars that we plused up, $200 million, the 
technology work in the area of bombs and weapons and antiterrorism, 
could have helped us in this situation, yet we in fact were criticized.

                              {time}  1400

  What bothered me most this morning, Mr. Speaker, and should bother 
every American is the fact that now we know the Air Force has assigned 
a three-star general to look at accountability and to possibly 
instigate a court-martial proceeding against the general in charge of 
the operations in Saudi Arabia. What is so outrageous about that is 
that there is no one looking at the general's level above him in terms 
of culpability, only below him.
  When I asked Secretary Perry this morning who is going to look at 
those above that general, including the CINC commander, including the 
Secretary himself and his staff, the Secretary of Defense told me that 
this same three-star general was tasked with that responsibility.
  What that means, Mr. Speaker, is that we now have a three-star Air 
Force general who has been charged with investigating a four-star Air 
Force general who happens to be his commanding officer, who absolutely 
had control over these decisions. Mr. Speaker, that is outrageous. I 
have never heard of a fair process occurring when the person doing the 
investigation actually reports to the person who may in fact be a 
subject of the inquiry. That does not even include the Secretary 
himself.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his 
excellent question to the Secretary this morning. I was reminded, as 
the Secretary and others talked about responsibility, and 
responsibility being on the base commander, I was reminded of Stonewall 
Jackson's comment that defending Harpers Ferry was like trying to 
defend the bottom of a teacup. Somebody placed those thousands of 
Americans in the bottom of a teacup right next to public roads where 
terrorists could drive up or down in large trucks. Then we are charging 
the base commander with the responsibility for defending the bottom of 
that teacup.
  I think the gentleman made exactly the right questions when he asked 
whether responsibility could go up as well as down.

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