[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 48 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3619-S3620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               NUNN-LUGAR

  In recent trips to Russia and the former Soviet Union it has been 
clear to me that NATO enlargement is unlikely to have a negative impact 
on our broad and deep cooperation with the Russian government to reduce 
the threat from weapons of mass destruction. My colleagues have 
expressed their concern that our successful cooperative dismantlement 
and destruction programs may falter as NATO enlarges.
  For the past year or two, while NATO issues were being addressed by 
senior diplomats, Nunn-Lugar activities continued along their steady 
path, undisrupted. The programs are proceeding well, with no signs of 
NATO enlargement hindering or damaging our ongoing destruction and 
dismantlement efforts.
  To date, the Nunn-Lugar program has deactivated 4,700 nuclear 
warheads, destroyed 255 ICBMs, eliminated 252 ICBM launchers, destroyed 
37 bombers, eliminated 95 SLBMs, destroyed 80 SLBM launchers, and 
sealed 114 nuclear test tunnels. These numbers will continue to climb 
as we expand our cooperative efforts with Russia.
  Our cooperative programs with Russia on these issues have not slowed 
down; rather they have made remarkable gains in recent months. 
Recently, the Russians have indicated their willingness to move forward 
on a range of new projects. Nunn-Lugar will support the elimination of 
over 20 Russian SS-18 ICBMs each year. At 10 warheads apiece, this 
removes one of the most feared threats to U.S. strategic forces.

  Nunn-Lugar will support the elimination of over 10 missile submarines 
per year at three Russian shipyards. Dismantlement projects will 
include DELTAs and ultimately TYPHOONs, the workhorses and mainstays of 
the Russian submarine forces. Moscow has also proposed Nunn-Lugar 
support for transforming the fissile material from dismantled Russian 
warheads into non-weapons-usable hockey puck shapes for storage at the 
Mayak fissile material storage facility. This project would provide 
unprecedented conformation that the Russians are dismantling nuclear 
warheads, and will speed the safe and secure storage of weapons-usable 
material.
  Ukraine has been similarly expansive in identifying new areas of 
cooperation. The Ukrainian government has requested Nunn-Lugar 
assistance in eliminating SS-24s and associated silos to meet its 
requirements by 2000. Kiev has also asked for Nunn-Lugar assistance in 
destroying 44 bombers, as well as over 1,000 advanced air-launch cruise 
missiles.

[[Page S3620]]

  With these major advances in our cooperative destruction and 
dismantlement programs under Nunn-Lugar, it is difficult to find 
evidence to support the claim that NATO enlargement is interfering with 
the larger problem of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 
Just the opposite, as NATO enlargement has progressed, so have our 
joint efforts with Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union 
to deal with the threat of weapons of mass destruction.
  Therefore I conclude that NATO enlargement and deeper NATO-Russian 
relations both have immense value for the United States and Europe if 
they are pursued properly. They are complementary and reinforcing 
objectives. The best outcome for the United States and Europe is for 
both tracks to succeed. A zero-sum debate about them, therefore, misses 
the point.
  The coming votes of European parliaments and the U.S. Senate on NATO 
enlargement will not simply be decisions over whether to add a few 
members to a military alliance. These votes will become a statement on 
the roles of the United States and the countries of Western Europe in 
the world. The U.S. vote on enlargement will be seen as a sign of 
whether America intends to maintain its international leadership role, 
or whether, after the end of the Cold War, the United States intends to 
retreat and relinquish its status as the world leader.
  It is my hope that America will maintain its position and engagement 
in the world's arena. We should ratify NATO enlargement and expand the 
zone of peace and security which has served Western Europe so well for 
the last fifty years to the central and eastern portions of this 
important continent.
  I thank the Chair.
  Mr. GRAMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ashcroft). The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, Ronald Reagan once remarked that:

       They say the world has become too complex for simple 
     answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there 
     are simple answers.

  Mr. President, with the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of 
the Soviet empire, we must face the challenge of maintaining a zone of 
stability in Central Europe while preserving the freedom and 
independence of these democratic states. Enlarging NATO to include 
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic is not an easy answer, but it 
is a simple answer. Most importantly, it is a simple answer that is in 
the best interest of the United States.
  This is not the first time that the Senate has considered the merits 
of NATO enlargement. NATO added new members on three other occasions, 
bringing Germany, Greece, Turkey, and Spain into the fold. With each 
addition, the military capability of NATO increased, and the stability 
of Europe was enhanced. I am confident that the inclusion of Poland, 
Hungary, and the Czech Republic in NATO will have the same effect.
  This round of NATO expansion, however, is significant in that these 
are the first candidates for NATO membership to be considered that were 
part of the Soviet bloc. Nearly a decade after the fall of the Berlin 
Wall, we have a chance to right the historical wrong of Yalta, and 
firmly anchor Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in the West. 
While the accession of these three nations to full NATO membership 
should not be supported for moral reasons alone, our moral obligation 
to these countries should not be ignored. We must look at NATO 
expansion not just as a way to make up for past mistakes, but as a 
chance to secure the gains of freedom and democracy and ensure that 
they will never again be encroached.
  NATO expansion offers the United States a remarkable opportunity to 
be proactive in shaping the strategic landscape of Europe. That this 
opportunity is a result of peace, and not the spoils of war, is a 
tribute to the effectiveness of NATO over nearly 50 years. It is not a 
responsibility that we should take lightly; it is not a responsibility 
that we can shirk.