[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 132 (Thursday, October 4, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REGARDING THE $400 MILLION STRIPPED FROM THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 4, 2001

  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, It is truly shocking that the House 
Defense Authorization Bill eliminated $400 million from space-based 
defenses, cutting the highly successful Space Based Laser program and a 
restart for the equally successful but de-funded Brilliant Pebbles 
space based interceptor program. Conscience demands my protest.
  The destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon involving 
the loss of 6,000 lives should have taught us a lesson on the need for 
vigilance. Freedom has a price. Attacks upon the United States can take 
the form of ballistic missiles, cyberwarfare, and attacks on our 
satellites as well as terrorism.
  The World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. Plans for the aerial 
destruction of the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorist Abdul Hakim 
Murad were communicated from the Philippines to the United States in 
1995. Six years of advance warning was supplied before the terrible 
events of September 11, 2001.
  In 1995 China threatened the United States with a ballistic missile 
to exchange Los Angeles for Taipei. China, moreover, reinforced its 
threat in 2000, and in 1995 and 1996 demonstrated its proclivity to use 
ballistic missiles, launching them offshore Taiwan. Six years of 
advanced warning has been supplied of China's plans.
  U.S. intelligence has been either unable or unwilling to inform us of 
the extent and purpose of China's military buildup. It is not for 
modernization but part of a deliberate buildup for threatening or 
attacking the United States. China's Long Wall Project building missile 
bases is aimed at U.S. forces in the Pacific.
  Nor is China the only country building ballistic missiles. North 
Korea, Libya, Iran, Iraq as well as other countries are engaged in 
buildup of ballistic missiles. But the passage of a few weeks has not 
seared the conscience of Congress to the menace posed by ballistic 
missiles, a threat against which Mr. Rumsfeld has warned us.
  The House Defense Authorization Bill saw fit to cut our defenses, 
cutting $400 million from space-based missile defense programs, 
including the Space Based Laser and re-start of the Space Based 
Interceptor or Brilliant Pebbles. Aiming itself at out space-based 
defenses, the House Defense Authorization Bill substituted false 
economy for the senseless risk of our lives and freedom.
  The disregard for our nation's defense is exuberated by a certain 
ignorance of ballistic missile defense programs. For Example, the 
opposition to the space-based defenses said the Airborne Laser was a 
stepping stone to the Space Based Laser evidently unaware of how the 
Space Based laser already completed the demonstration of its technology 
of its technology in 1997, four years ago.
  It is evidently poorly understood how the Airborne Laser and Space 
Based Laser involve different applications and technologies. The 
Airborne Laser uses a chemical oxygeniodine reaction to power the laser 
suitable for an airplane or other platform in the environment of the 
earth's gravity. This laser, however, is not suitable for the zero-
gravity environment of space. This Space Based Laser uses a hydrogen-
fluoride reaction to power its laser, where the spent gases can be 
exhausted in the zero-gravity environment of space.
  It is apparently not well understood, moreover, how the Airborne 
Laser relies on a complex mirror system for directing the laser beam. 
The Airborne Laser, in addition, is designed for transmission of the 
laser through the atmosphere at ranges greater than 100 miles. The 
Space Based Laser, in contrast, transmits its bean from space to around 
35,000 feet in altitude, or above the cloud tops.
  The House Defense Authorization Bill left $32 million for space-based 
missile defenses including the Space Based Laser and any restart of the 
Space Based interceptor or Brilliant Pebbles where the administration 
requests $165 million for the Space Based Laser. Funding levels for the 
Space Based Laser have been around $130 million.
  I vigorously protest this senseless abasement of our best missile 
defense programs. The United States is spending $40 billion to respond 
to the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon. 
The price of a ballistic missile attack and the policy of deliberately 
leaving ourselves vulnerable, as embodied in the House Defense 
Authorization Bill, may be immeasurable.
  I therefore urge this body, at the first and next opportunity to 
advocate not only the full and immediate restoration of the $400 
million cut by Congress, but to increase funding for space-based 
defenses, along with their necessary technological support and 
development.

                          ____________________