[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 76 (Friday, June 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5309-S5310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MACK (for himself and Mr. Torricelli):
  S. 2748. A bill to prohibit the rescheduling or forgiveness of any 
outstanding bilateral debt owed to the United States by the Government 
of the Russian Federation until the President certifies to the Congress 
that the Government of the Russian Federation has ceased all its 
operations at, removed all personnel from, and permanently closed the 
intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.


         THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN TRUST AND COOPERATION ACT OF 2000

 Mr. MACK. Mr. President, I rise today to offer a common sense 
piece of legislation that would prohibit the rescheduling or 
forgiveness of any outstanding bilateral debt owed to the United States 
by the Government of the Russian Federation until the President of the 
United States certifies to the Congress that Russia has ceased all 
operations and permanently closed its intelligence facility at Lourdes, 
Cuba. Currently the Government of the Russian Federation maintains a 
signals intelligence facility in Lourdes, Cuba from which it conducts 
intelligence activities directed against the United States. The 
Secretary of Defense has reported that the Russian Federation leases 
the Lourdes facility for an estimated $100 to $300 million every year. 
This is several hundred million dollars flowing to support a brutal 
tyrant for the purpose of supporting espionage.
  Mr. President, the United States should prohibit debt rescheduling 
and forgiveness for a country that is conducting espionage activities 
against America, while infusing Castro's despotic government with 
between $100 million and $300 million per year.
  I am pleased to have my colleague from New Jersey as a cosponsor of 
this legislation and I look forward to working with my colleagues to 
quickly pass this important bill. Mr. President, I ask unanimous 
consent that a copy of the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2748

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Russian-American Trust and 
     Cooperation Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Government of the Russian Federation maintains an 
     agreement with the Government of Cuba which allows Russia to 
     operate an intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.
       (2) The Secretary of Defense has formally expressed 
     concerns to the Congress regarding the espionage complex at 
     Lourdes, Cuba, and its use as a base for intelligence 
     activities directed against the United States.
       (3) The Secretary of Defense, referring to a 1998 Defense 
     Intelligence Agency assessment, has reported that the Russian 
     Federation leases the Lourdes facility for an estimated 
     $100,000,000 to $300,000,000 a year.
       (4) It has been reported that the Lourdes facility is the 
     largest such complex operated by the Russian Federation and 
     its intelligence service outside the region of the former 
     Soviet Union.

[[Page S5310]]

       (5) The Lourdes facility is reported to cover a 28 square-
     mile area with over 1,500 Russian engineers, technicians, and 
     military personnel working at the base.
       (6) Experts familiar with the Lourdes facility have 
     reportedly confirmed that the base has multiple groups of 
     tracking dishes and its own satellite system, with some 
     groups used to intercept telephone calls, faxes, and computer 
     communications, in general, and with other groups used to 
     cover targeted telephones and devices.
       (7) News sources have reported that the predecessor regime 
     to the Government of the Russian Federation had obtained 
     sensitive information about United States military operations 
     during Operation Desert Storm through the Lourdes facility.
       (8) Academic studies assessing the threat the Lourdes 
     espionage station poses to the United States cite official 
     United States sources affirming that the Lourdes facility is 
     being used to collect personal information about United 
     States citizens in the private and government sectors, and 
     offers the means to engage in cyberwarfare against the United 
     States.
       (9) It has been reported that the operational significance 
     of the Lourdes facility has grown dramatically since February 
     7, 1996, when then Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, issued 
     an order demanding that the Russian intelligence community 
     increase its gathering of United States and other Western 
     economic and trade secrets.
       (10) It has been reported that the Government of the 
     Russian Federation is estimated to have spent in excess of 
     $3,000,000,000 in the operation and modernization of the 
     Lourdes facility.
       (11) Former United States Government officials have been 
     quoted confirming reports about the Russian Federation's 
     expansion and upgrade of the Lourdes facility.
       (12) It was reported in December 1999 that a high-ranking 
     Russian military delegation headed by Deputy Chief of the 
     General Staff Colonel-General Valentin Korabelnikov visited 
     Cuba to discuss the continuing Russian operation of the 
     Lourdes facility.

     SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BILATERAL DEBT RESCHEDULING AND 
                   FORGIVENESS FOR THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

       (a) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the President--
       (1) shall not reschedule or forgive any outstanding 
     bilateral debt owed to the United States by the Government of 
     the Russian Federation, and
       (2) shall instruct the United States representative to the 
     Paris Club of official creditors to use the voice and vote of 
     the United States to oppose rescheduling or forgiveness of 
     any outstanding bilateral debt owed by the Government of the 
     Russian Federation,

     until the President certifies to the Congress that the 
     Government of the Russian Federation has ceased all its 
     operations at, removed all personnel from, and permanently 
     closed the intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.
       (b) Waiver.--
       (1) In general.--The President may waive the application of 
     subsection (a)(1) if, not less than 10 days before the waiver 
     is to take effect, the President determines and certifies in 
     writing to the Committee on International Relations of the 
     House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 
     Relations of the Senate that such waiver is necessary to the 
     national interests of the United States.
       (2) Additional requirement.--If the President waives the 
     application of subsection (a)(1) pursuant to paragraph (1), 
     the President shall include in the written certification 
     under paragraph (1) a detailed description of the facts that 
     support the determination to waive the application of 
     subsection (a)(1).
       (3) Submission in Classified Form.--If the President 
     considers it appropriate, the written certification under 
     paragraph (1), or appropriate parts thereof, may be submitted 
     in classified form.
       (c) Periodic Reports.--The President shall, every 180 days 
     after the transmission of the written certification under 
     subsection (b)(1), prepare and transmit to the Committee on 
     International Relations of the House of Representatives and 
     the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 
     that contains a description of the extent to which the 
     requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 
     (b)(1) are being met.

     SEC. 4. REPORT ON THE CLOSING OF THE INTELLIGENCE FACILITY AT 
                   LOURDES, CUBA.

       Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, and every 120 days thereafter until the President 
     makes a certification under section 3, the President shall 
     submit to the Committee on International Relations and the 
     Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
     the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate a report 
     (with a classified annex) detailing--
       (1) the actions taken by the Government of the Russian 
     Federation to terminate its presence and activities at the 
     intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba; and
       (2) the efforts by each appropriate Federal department or 
     agency to verify the actions described in paragraph 
     (1).

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