[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 165 (Friday, November 19, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15084-S15085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    VIEQUES ISLAND TRAINING FACILITY

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a very 
important issue that threatens to undermine the readiness of our Navy 
and Marine Corps units that are scheduled to deploy to the 
Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf in February. That issue is the 
current situation on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques where the Navy 
is being prevented by unrestrained civil disobedience from conducting 
training critical to its preparations for deploying into a possible 
combat environment.
  Two weeks ago, I and four of my colleagues introduced Senate 
Resolution 220, that would express the Sense of the

[[Page S15085]]

Congress that the Secretary of the Navy should initiate the required 
training for the Eisenhower Battle Group and the 24th Marine 
Expeditionary Unit on the island of Vieques, and that the President 
should not deploy these forces unless the President determines that 
they are free of serious deficiencies in their major warfare areas.
  Over the past two weeks there have been discussions between the 
Federal government and the Government of Puerto Rico to try and reach 
an accommodation that would resolve the current impasse between the 
Navy and the people of Vieques. Unfortunately, these discussions have 
not born fruit and there is no resolution in sight. The simple fact is 
the President needs to act to resolve this impasse.
  Today, the Armed Forces are at risk of reaching unacceptably low 
levels of preparedness. Last week we learned that two Army Divisions 
are not ready to execute the National Military Strategy without 
unacceptable risk to the personnel in those units.
  If the required training for the Eisenhower Battle Group and the 24th 
Marine Expeditionary Unit is not conducted in December, in February 
these two units will be unable to deploy without serious deficiencies 
in their warfighting capabilities. We cannot allow this degradation in 
the readiness of our Armed Forces to occur if we intend to maintain our 
position as a world leader, and honor our commitment to our military 
personnel to reduce the risk they incur when they sail into harm's way. 
As Vice Admiral Murphy, Commander of the Sixth Fleet of the Navy, 
recently testified before the Armed Services Committee, the loss of 
training on Vieques would ``cost American lives.'' Over the past 
several weeks, the Armed Services Committee has held a series of 
hearings on the important issue of Vieques. Over the course of these 
hearings, I have become increasingly convinced that it would be 
irresponsible to deploy our naval forces without the training that 
takes place at the Vieques facilities.

  On Tuesday, September 22, 1999, the Readiness and Management Support 
Subcommittee, under the leadership of Senator Inhofe, held a hearing to 
review the need for Vieques as a training facility and explore 
alternative sites that might be utilized. At that hearing both Admiral 
Fallon, commander of the Navy's Second Fleet, and General Pace, 
commander of all Marine Forces in the Atlantic, testified that the 
Armed Forces of the United States need Vieques as a training ground to 
prepare our young men and women for the challenges of deployed military 
operations.
  On October 13th, the Seapower Subcommittee, under the leadership of 
Senator Snowe, heard from Admiral Murphy, commander of the Navy's Sixth 
Fleet and the commander who receives the naval forces trained at 
Vieques, who stated that a loss of Vieques would ``cost American 
lives.''
  Earlier this month, after the release of the report prepared by the 
Special Panel on Military Operations on Vieques, the so-called Rush 
Panel, I held a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee to 
discuss with Administration and Puerto Rican officials the 
recommendations of that report, and to search for a compromise solution 
that addresses the national security requirements and the interests of 
the people of Vieques. In outlining the need for Vieques at that 
hearing, Secretary Danzig, the Secretary of the Navy, stated that only 
by providing the necessary training can we fairly ask our service 
members to put their lives at risk. Admiral Johnson, Chief of Naval 
Operations, stated that the Eisenhower Battle Group would not be able 
to deploy in February without a significant increase in the risk to the 
lives of the men and women of that battle group unless they are allowed 
to conduct required training on Vieques. Finally, General Jones, 
Commandant of the Marine Corps, testified that the loss of training 
provided on Vieques  ``will result in degraded cohesion on the part of 
our battalions and our squadrons and our crews, decreased confidence in 
their ability to do their very dangerous jobs and missions, a decreased 
level of competence and the ability to fight and win on the 
battlefield.''

  At that hearing, I asked Admiral Johnson and General Jones ``Is there 
any training that can be substituted for Vieques live fire training 
between now and February that will constitute, in your professional 
judgment, a sufficient level of training to enable you to say to the 
Chairman of the Joint chiefs of Staff, the Eisenhower Battle Group and 
the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit are ready to go.'' In response they 
stated ``no, sir, not without--not without greatly increasing the risk 
to those men and women who we ask to go in harm's way, no, sir.''
  I remain convinced that the training requirement is real and will 
continue to directly effect the readiness of our Carrier Battle Groups 
and Marine Expeditionary Units. As General Shelton recently testified 
before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the training on Vieques is 
``critical'' to military readiness. He further stated that he 
``certainly would not want to see our troops sent into an area where 
there was going to be combat, without having had this type of an 
experience. We should not deploy them under those conditions.''
  All of the military officers with whom we have spoken on this issue 
have informed us that the loss of Vieques would increase the risk to 
our military personnel deploying to potential combat environments. The 
Rush Panel, appointed at the request of the Resident Commissioner from 
Puerto Rico and the direction of the President, recognized the need for 
Vieques and recommended its continued use for at least five years.
  What we have learned in these hearings is that Vieques is a unique 
training asset, both in terms of its geography with deep open water and 
unrestricted airspace and its training support infrastructure. The last 
two East coast carrier battle groups which deployed to the Adriatic and 
Persian Gulf completed their final integrated live fire training at 
Vieques. Both battle groups, led by the carriers U.S.S. Enterprise and 
U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, subsequently saw combat in Operations Desert 
Fox (Iraq) and Allied Force (Kosovo) within days of arriving in the 
respective theater of operations. Their success in these operations, 
with no loss of American life, was largely attributable to the 
realistic and integrated live fire training completed at Vieques prior 
to their deployment.

  According to Article II, section 2, of the Constitution of the United 
States, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed 
Forces. As such, he bears the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that 
the men and women in uniform he orders into harm's way, receive the 
training necessary to perform their mission with the least risk to 
their lives.
  I am encouraged that the President has tried to resolve this matter 
with the Governor of Puerto Rico in such a way that would allow the 
Navy to conduct the necessary training. However, I am disappointed that 
the President and the Governor have been unable to achieve such a 
resolution.
  Mr. President, as long as we are committing our nation's youth to 
military operations throughout the world; and as long as Vieques is 
necessary to train these individuals so that they can perform their 
missions safely and successfully; it would be unconscionable to deploy 
these forces without first allowing them to train at this vital 
facility.
  Mr. President, the Eisenhower Battle Group and the 24th Marine 
Expeditionary Unit will soon deploy to the Mediterranean Sea and the 
Persian Gulf. In order to do so safely, they must begin preparations to 
conduct the necessary pre-deployment training on the island of Vieques 
in December.
  The time has come for the President to make a decision to protect our 
national security and the safety of our men and women in uniform. He 
must decide to allow the Navy and the Marine Corps to conduct this 
training, and to notify the Secretary of the Navy and the Governor of 
Puerto Rico of his decision.

                          ____________________