[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 6 (Thursday, January 23, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEFENDING AMERICA ACT OF 1997

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to join the 
distinguished majority leader, and my colleagues, in cosponsoring 
Senate bill S. 7, the Defending America Act of 1997. This legislation 
builds on the significant, but still insufficient, progress we 
accomplished in the 104th Congress. During the last session of 
Congress, we were able to secure the funding necessary for the eventual 
deployment of a missile defense system capable of protecting the United 
States. But we were not able to explicitly direct that we deploy the 
missile defense system as soon as possible. This leaves us with no 
assurance that the funding we have secured will be used, efficiently 
and expeditiously, for its intended purpose.
  Therefore, Mr. President, the majority leader, in close cooperation 
with Congress' national defense leadership, has crafted a proposal that 
would secure our Nation's missile defense through prudent development 
of policies and force structures. To begin with, we would produce the 
system necessary to protect the United States from limited, 
unauthorized, or accidental ballistic missile attacks. We then would 
augment that capability to defend our Nation against larger and more 
sophisticated ballistic missile threats. I am especially heartened that 
the most promising antiballistic missile technologies, including sea-
based systems such as Navy Upper Tier, are fast approaching the point 
at which we will be able to make them operational.
  We need this technology, in my view, because the post-cold-war world 
remains a dangerous place. Ballistic missile proliferation to rogue 
regimes continues apace. The security of nuclear armed ballistic 
missiles in the former Soviet Union has declined sharply. Given these 
facts, old strategies and treaties can no longer meet our national 
security needs. We must develop and deploy a ballistic missile defense 
system capable of protecting our cities and citizens from disastrous 
attack.
  I mentioned old treaties, Mr. President. I would like in particular 
to discuss the Anti-Ballistic-Missile Treaty and its relationship to 
missile defense. Congress has repeatedly stated that the ABM Treaty 
does not, in any way, hinder the development of theater ballistic 
missile defenses. It has also called for a renegotiation of the ABM 
Treaty so as to allow the development of more robust national missile 
defense systems.
  Mr. President, the times have changed since the ratification of the 
ABM Treaty. Our primary threats no longer come from a general nuclear 
attack by thousands of Soviet weapons--an attack that would probably 
overwhelm a ballistic missile defense system. Today our immediate 
threats come from rogue, unintentional, or unauthorized attacks of 
limited size and duration. I believe we are quickly approaching the 
point of our last, best hope in properly modifying the ABM Treaty, and 
protecting America from ballistic missile attack.
  The majority leader has displayed the foresight and perceptiveness 
critical for developing effective national security strategies. There 
can be no doubt that a fully operational and technologically capable 
ballistic missile defense system is crucial to that strategy. Nor can 
there be any doubt that antiquated treaties which fail to adapt to 
vastly different national security threats must be either changed or 
discarded.
  The majority leader's bill constitutes a reasonable and moderate 
attempt to bridge the philosophical gap that exists between Congress 
and the administration. We should not let this opportunity be 
lost.

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