[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 28, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S8189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GROUND-BASED MIDCOURSE DEFENSE ELEMENT

  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, there are some very important provisions 
in the Armed Services Committee bill, S. 1390, the National Defense 
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010, regarding the Ground-based 
Midcourse Defense, GMD, element of the Ballistic Missile Defense 
System, BMDS. GMD is a system designed to protect the homeland against 
long-range missile threats. Would the chairman agree that GMD plays an 
important role in the architecture of the overall BMDS?
  Mr. LEVIN. GMD is an important element of the overall Ballistic 
Missile Defense System. It is important that the GMD element be an 
operationally effective, cost-effective, affordable, reliable, 
suitable, and survivable system capable of defending the United States 
from the threat of long-range missile attacks from nations such as 
North Korea and Iran, and that adequate resources be available to 
achieve such capabilities.
  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, Alaska plays a critical role in GMD. The 
majority of infrastructure currently required to support deployment of 
the GMD system is located at Fort Greely in Alaska. Recently, the 
Missile Defense Agency determined that in order to ensure the best 
infrastructure is available to support deployment of interceptors from 
Alaska in defense of the Nation, a seven-silo configuration in Missile 
Field 2 is warranted to replace older, less reliable, silos in Missile 
Field 1. In the Armed Services Committee report accompanying S. 1390, 
the committee expressed the view that, if the Department of Defense 
believes there is a benefit to completing the seven silos at Missile 
Field 2 during fiscal year 2010, the committee would look favorably 
upon a reprogramming request from the Secretary of Defense to provide 
the funds to complete the seven-silos in fiscal year 2010. Would the 
chairman agree that providing a seven silo capability in Missile Field 
2 is beneficial to GMD in defense of the homeland?
  Mr. LEVIN. I agree with my colleague from Alaska that Fort Greely 
plays an integral role in supporting the GMD element of Ballistic 
Missile Defense System, and will continue to do so in the future. 
Constructing Missile Field 2 in a seven-silo configuration to replace 
the older silos at Missile Field 1 will provide updated and more 
reliable infrastructure in support of GMD. If the Department of Defense 
believes there is a benefit to completing the seven silos in fiscal 
year 2010 and the Secretary submits a reprogramming request to do so, I 
believe the committee would look favorably upon such a request, 
although subject to evaluation of course. If the Department does not 
submit such a reprogramming request, I believe the Department will 
request the funds to complete construction of the seven-silos in fiscal 
year 2011.
  Mr. BEGICH.: I thank the chairman for his response. Section 243 of S. 
1390, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010, 
would require the Department of Defense to submit to Congress early 
next year two reports concerning the GMD element. Would the chairman 
agree that until the reports required in section 243 of S. 1390 are 
delivered to Congress the Department of Defense should not make any 
irreversible decision concerning operational silos in Missile Field 2 
at Fort Greely, and that decommissioning of Missile Field 1 should not 
be completed until the seven-silos have been emplaced at Missile Field 
2?
  Mr. LEVIN. During consideration of S. 1390, the Senate adopted an 
amendment, offered by the Senator from Alaska, that would require the 
Secretary of Defense to ensure that Missile Field 1 does not complete 
decommissioning until seven-silos have been emplaced at Missile Field 
2. It would also require the Secretary to ensure that no irreversible 
decision is made with respect to the disposition of operational silos 
at Missile Field 2 until 60 days after the reports required by section 
243 are submitted to Congress.
  Mr. BEGICH. I thank the chairman and appreciate his work on improving 
GMD and recognizing Alaska's infrastructure is necessary to support GMD 
in defense of the homeland now and in the future.

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