[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3179-S3180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     ASSESSMENT OF CUBAN THREAT TO UNITED STATES NATIONAL SECURITY

 Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, the 1998 Defense Authorization Bill 
contains a provision, which I introduced as an amendment, that requires 
the Secretary of Defense to conduct an assessment of the Cuban threat 
to United States national security. The bill requires the Secretary to 
report to Congress on this assessment by March 31, 1998. The report has 
been delayed, and it now appears that the report will be released after 
Congress begins the Easter recess.
  While the final report has not been released and no member of 
Congress has yet been briefed on its content, a draft report was leaked 
to the press and several articles have appeared over the past few days. 
I am concerned that this information was leaked to the press before the 
report was provided to Congress.
  Members of Congress are now in the position of having to respond to 
these press reports without the benefit of knowing the actual contents 
of the report. Since Congress will not be in session for over two weeks 
and our ability to respond to the report will be limited, I would like 
to take this opportunity to provide some context for the report and for 
the reason that I requested it.
  Cuba, under Fidel Castro's dictatorial regime, has a well documented 
history of threatening the national security of the United States. From 
the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the Mariel Boatlift, to the Brothers to 
the Rescue shootdown, the pattern of provocation and threat to the well 
being of Americans is clear. Unfortunately what is also clear is a 
pattern of unpreparedness on the part of the United States to respond 
to Cuban provocations. In fact, NBC News reported that President 
Clinton was constrained in responding to the Brothers to the Rescue 
shootdown because of a fear of Cuban counterattacks.
  It was my intention that this report would force the Defense 
Department to assess Cuban capabilities to threaten the United States 
and, since Castro has a long record of using his capability against the 
United States, prepare contingency plans to respond to any threat from 
Cuba. We should not be caught off guard, unable to respond again.
  Press reports that the Department of Defense assessment finds no 
national security threat from Cuba are very troubling. Just two years 
ago, Cuban Air Force MiGs shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft over 
international waters, killing three United States citizens. Although 
U.S. forces monitored the entire event, no U.S. forces were able to 
respond. Our advanced fighter aircraft never got off the ground.
  Equally as troubling as this type of conventional threat are the non-
traditional threats posed by Cuba. Biological and chemical weapons, 
intelligence collection activities, immigration crises, drug 
trafficking, and dangerous nuclear and information warfare programs all 
pose national security threats to the United States.

  At the same time, U.S. capability to deal with these threats 
continues to erode. A series of base closure decisions have reduced 
capability in the areas that provide the most direct capacity to 
respond to Cuban provocations. With the realignment of Homestead Air 
Force Base and Key West Naval Air Station, we are in a worse posture 
than in 1996 when the shootdown occurred.
  Mr. President, let me mention a few of the known Cuban capabilities 
that cannot be overlooked. First, a significant conventional military 
capability exists that can harm United States interests, as 
demonstrated by the 1996 shootdown. In addition, Jane's Defense Weekly 
reported last summer that Castro is training elite special force units 
in Vietnam which are prepared to attack U.S. military targets during a 
final confrontation. NBC News reported in 1995 that Cuba has operated a 
special military training school since the mid-1980's named the Baragua 
School in Los Palacios, Pinar del Rio, in a region known as El Cacho. 
It reportedly trains some 2,500 men and specializes in commando attacks 
and infiltration of other countries.
  Castro's capability to produce weapons of mass destruction is even 
more worrisome, particularly his ability to produce biological weapons. 
There is no question that the capability exists. Cuba has a developed 
pharmaceutical industry and a network of biological ``institutes'' 
which could be used for more than simply scientific research. Many of 
Cuba's engineers and scientists have been trained in former-communist 
countries such as East Germany and Russia and have ample training to 
cultivate biological weapons. Biological weapons are the easiest to 
conceal and acquire because of the dual-use nature of the technology.
  Another major threat to U.S. national security is the intelligence 
collection facilities in Cuba that can intercept all electronic 
transmissions, emanating from the east coast of the United States. The 
28 acre Russian intelligence facility at Lourdes has two electronic 
satellite dishes aimed at the United States which can intercept phone 
calls, faxes, and computer data from the entire Eastern seaboard. 
Russia and Cuba renegotiated a $200 million annual lease for the site 
in 1995. According to U.S. intelligence analysts, one dish listens in 
on general U.S. communications, the other is used for targeted 
eavesdropping. The facility employs 800 Russian technicians and 
linguists. An example of the danger this facility poses to U.S. 
national security is the fact that during the Gulf War, the station's 
specialists intercepted the details of the U.S. military battle plans 
and were prepared to disclose these plans to Iraq and other U.S. 
enemies.
  The Russians have spent nearly $3 billion on Lourdes and sources say 
that the Russians are upgrading its reach. In addition, the operation 
at Lourdes is extremely sophisticated. According to U.S. intelligence 
sources, the Russians program the computers at Lourdes to listen for 
specific phone numbers. When they detect those lines are in use, the 
computers automatically record the conversations or transmissions. For 
priority targets, an alarm signals a Russian linguist who will actually 
listen in.
  The Castro regime has also used mass migration as a policy tool. 
There have been two major refugee crises which have posed a security 
threat to the U.S. In 1980, 125,000 Cubans came to the U.S. in the 
``Mariel Boatlift.'' In 1994, another 32,000 Cubans left Cuba by boat 
and were picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard. In the Mariel 
crisis, the Cuban government encouraged criminals and mental patients 
to leave, causing additional security problems for the United States.

  The problem of dealing with a large influx of refugees, whether 
criminal or not, gives Castro a weapon he can use to threaten the 
United States. Mass immigration represents a form of leverage Castro 
can use to extract concessions from the U.S. on a number of issues.
  Cuba also has a dormant nuclear capability that can threaten the 
United States. Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Emergency Situations in 
Russia, has recently confirmed that Russia and Cuba will forge ahead to 
finish constructing the Juragua nuclear plant on Cuba's south coast. 
The Juragua facility is known to be unsafe in both construction and 
design. A nuclear accident at Juragua would send a radioactive cloud 
over the lower tier of the U.S. to Texas or up to the East Coast to 
Washington, D.C. within the first four days, depending on the season 
and prevailing winds. According to a National Oceanographic and 
Atmosphere Administration study, an estimated 50-80 million Americans 
from Florida to

[[Page S3180]]

Texas could be exposed to dangerous levels of radioactivity.
  The U.S. State Department lists Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. 
Cuba also regularly conducts political, social, and economic 
interactions with countries listed on the State Department's List of 
Terrorist Nations, including Libya, Iran, and Iraq, giving it access to 
these countries' illegal supplies of weapons and biotech products. 
These activities, all just 90 miles off our shores, must be considered 
as a threat to U.S. national security.
  Mr. President, it is clear that Cuba has the capability to threaten 
U.S. national security. Castro's track record of provocations and 
attacks should be a warning that he will use whatever capabilities he 
has. We must take these threats seriously and ensure that we can 
adequately respond to any Cuban provocation. The Constitution requires 
us to provide for the common defense of the American people, and we 
must never shrink from that responsibility. The threats posed by 
Castro's Cuba are obvious. What must be made clear is an adequate plan 
to deter and defend against such threats.

                          ____________________