[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 26, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H3682-H3683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   UNITED STATES' NATIONAL SECURITY COMPROMISED BY CHINESE ESPIONAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOSSELLA. Madam Speaker, I would like to compliment my colleague 
and friend from New York (Mr. Crowley) and congratulate Mr. Hart as 
well. Memorial Day is I think too often taken for granted in this 
country, and it is an opportunity, however, for most of us to 
appreciate and demonstrate our support for our veterans who were 
willing to give their lives for our country, too many of whom made the 
supreme sacrifice, physically, mentally scared for life. So I 
compliment those in Woodside, Queens and of course in Staten Island 
where I live. I think it is an appropriate opening to what I wanted to 
talk about tonight.
  I will read my colleagues a little clause here. ``The People's 
Republic of China has stolen classified design information on the 
United States's most advanced thermonuclear weapons. The stolen United 
States' nuclear secrets give the People's Republic of China design 
information on thermonuclear weapons on par with our own.''
  So begins the United States national security and military commercial 
concerns of the People's Republic of China from the Select Committee, 
commonly known now as the Cox Report that was declassified in the last 
couple of days.
  Madam Speaker, we talk about a lot of things here in Washington, and 
clearly, many of them are important and affect everybody across this 
country. But I think to me and so many others here, there is nothing 
more vital than protecting our national security. Frankly, I think if 
any American can, they should read the Cox report. What I am going to 
do is just read some outtakes from this.
  ``The stolen information includes classified information on seven 
U.S. thermonuclear warheads, including every currently deployed 
thermonuclear warhead in the United States

[[Page H3683]]

ballistic missile arsenal. The stolen information also includes 
classified design information for enhanced radiation weapons, commonly 
known as the neutron bomb, which neither the United States nor any 
other Nation has yet deployed. The People's Republic of China has 
obtained classified information on the following United States 
thermonuclear warheads, as well as a number of associated reentry 
vehicles, the hardened shell that protects the thermonuclear warhead 
during reentry.''
  Might I add, this Cox Committee was a bipartisan committee, Democrats 
and Republicans in the House of Representatives, and clearly 
demonstrates, for example:
  ``The People's Republic of China has stolen United States design 
information and other classified information for neutron bomb warheads. 
China has stolen classified U.S. information about the neutron bomb 
from a U.S. national weapons laboratory. The United States learned of 
the theft of this classified information on the neutron bomb in 1996,'' 
and practically nothing was done.
  ``The Select Committee judges that if the People's Republic of China 
were successful in stealing nuclear test codes, computer models and 
data from the United States, it could further accelerate its nuclear 
development. By using such stolen codes and data in conjunction with 
the high performance computers already acquired by the People's 
Republic of China, the PRC could diminish its needs for further nuclear 
testing to evaluate weapons and proposed design changes.''
  The small warheads that we talk about, multiple warheads, will make 
it possible for the People's Republic of China to develop and deploy 
missiles with multiple reentry vehicles. Multiple reentry vehicles 
increase the effectiveness of a ballistic missile force by multiplying 
the number of warheads, and a single missile can carry as many as 
tenfold.
  Multiple reentry vehicles also can help to counter missile defenses. 
For example, multiple reentry vehicles make it easier for the People's 
Republic of China to deploy penetration aids with its ICBM warheads in 
order to defeat antimissile defenses.
  At the beginning of the 1990s, the People's Republic of China had 
only one or two silo-based ICBMs capable of attacking, attacking the 
United States. Since then, the People's Republic of China has deployed 
up to two dozen additional silo-based ICBMs capable of attacking the 
United States. That is 24 additional silo-based ICBMs; has upgraded its 
silo-based missiles and has continued development of three mobile ICBM 
systems and associated modern thermonuclear warheads, something they 
never had.
  Even though the United States discovered in 1995, in 1995, that is 
almost four years ago, that the People's Republic of China had stolen 
design information on the W-88 Trident D-5 warhead and technical 
information on a number of U.S. thermonuclear warheads, the White House 
has informed in response to specific interrogatories propounded by the 
committee that the President was not briefed about the 
counterintelligence failures until 1998.
  Madam Speaker, this is just a disgrace, and unless something happens, 
we should not be here today discussing anything else until our national 
security is protected.

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