[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 97 (Wednesday, June 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3339-S3340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 220. Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. Portman) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 722, to impose
sanctions with respect to Iran in relation to Iran's ballistic missile
program, support for acts of international terrorism, and violations of
human rights, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the
table; as follows:
At the end, add the following:
[[Page S3340]]
SEC. 13. SENSE OF SENATE ON THE UNWAVERING COMMITMENT OF THE
UNITED STATES TO THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY
ORGANIZATION.
(a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:
(1) Following World War II, the United States rejected
isolationism, established its role as a world leader, and
developed an international alliance system that protected the
United States while supporting democracy, freedom, and
economic prosperity with European nations.
(2) 70 years ago, the United States announced the Marshall
Plan for Europe, a strategic investment in Europe, as well as
articulated the Truman Doctrine, which sought to contain a
growing Soviet threat in Southern Europe.
(3) In 1949, the United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark,
France, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, and the United Kingdom signed the North Atlantic
Treaty that formed the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (in this section referred to as ``NATO'').
(4) NATO was created to protect countries from a growing
Soviet threat, promote international peace and stability, and
defend freedom.
(5) To date, 29 countries have joined NATO.
(6) For more than 67 years, NATO has served as a central
pillar of United States national security and a deterrent
against adversaries and external threats.
(7) NATO continues to improve its collective defense
measures, enhance its military capabilities to address a full
spectrum of complex threats, and partner with non-NATO
countries to promote international stability.
(8) Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is an integral
part of NATO and states that ``[t]he Parties agree that an
armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North
America shall be considered an attack against them all . .
.''.
(9) NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time less than 24
hours after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against
the United States.
(10) In Afghanistan, NATO allies and partners have served
alongside United States forces since 2001, reaching a peak of
more than 42,000 ally and partner forces, 6,300 NATO forces
continue to serve today alongside the 6,900 United States
forces there, and more than 1,100 NATO ally and partner
forces have paid the ultimate price in service to the
collective defense of NATO.
(11) NATO took the lead in helping combat the terrorist
threat in Afghanistan through the International Security
Assistance Force and Operation Resolute Support, contributing
to the safety of the United States and the international
community.
(12) All 29 NATO allies and many NATO partners are
contributing to the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant.
(13) Approximately 18,000 military personnel are currently
engaged in NATO missions around the world, conducting
operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Mediterranean, and off
the Horn of Africa.
(14) NATO conducts a range of maritime security operations
in the Mediterranean and is essential to establishing
stability along the borders of Europe and to responding to
the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis.
(15) For nearly 10 years, NATO has provided airlift support
for the mission of the African Union in Somalia, as well as
assisted with training the African Standby Force at the
request of the African Union.
(16) For more than 17 years, NATO has led peace-support
operations in Kosovo to maintain safety and security in a
volatile region.
(17) NATO has three standing forces on active duty at all
times to defend the Alliance, air policing capability,
maritime forces, and an integrated air defense system.
(18) Whereas NATO allies and the international community
continue to look to NATO to deter the increasingly revanchist
activities of Russia.
(19) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph
Dunford, testified before the Committee on Armed Services of
the Senate on July 19, 2015, that Russia presents the
``greatest existential threat'' to the United States.
(20) The malign actions of Russia--its 2008 incursion into
Georgia, its illegal annexation of Crimea, its continued
military action in Ukraine, its targeting of civilians in
Syria, its ongoing information war in Europe, its continued
violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Agreement, and
its cyberattacks aimed at influencing United States
elections--have violated international laws and norms.
(21) Russia continues to use disinformation campaigns and
promote state propaganda to discredit democracy and undermine
NATO members.
(22) Since the illegal annexation of Crimea and direct
support to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine by Russia in 2014,
NATO members have undertaken the biggest reinforcement of the
collective defense of NATO since the end of the Cold War,
enhancing allied readiness and deterrence measures in
response to Russian aggression.
(23) The efforts of NATO to confront and deter Russian
aggression in Eastern Europe have included a three-fold
increase in the size of the NATO Response Force (NRF) to
40,000 troops; the creation of a Spearhead Force of 5,000
troops capable of deploying within a few days to respond to
any threat against an ally, particularly on the eastern flank
of NATO; the forward deployment of up to 4,000 troops to
Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; an increase in the
air policing and maritime missions of NATO in Eastern Europe;
and a significant increase in NATO training and military
exercises in Eastern Europe.
(24) Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2014,
the United States established Operation Atlantic Resolve and
the European Reassurance Initiative to reassure NATO allies
that the United States would uphold its global security
commitments and work in coordination with European partners
to deter Russian aggression.
(25) Since 2014, Operation Atlantic Resolve and the
European Reassurance Initiative have demonstrated the
continued commitment of the United States to its NATO allies
and partners by engaging in deterrence and security measures
against potential Russian aggression in the region.
(26) Whereas the United States is further strengthening its
force presence in Europe through the continuous deployment of
an armored brigade combat team to Poland on a rotating basis.
(27) On January 6, 2017, as a part of Operation Atlantic
Resolve, 3,500 United States troops from the 4th Infantry
Division in Fort Carson, Colorado, along with more than 2,500
military vehicles, were deployed to Eastern Europe to deter
regional aggression.
(28) Continued United States leadership in NATO is critical
to ensuring that NATO remains the greatest military alliance
in history.
(29) All NATO members have recommitted themselves to
sharing the security burden of NATO at the 2014 NATO Wales
Summit by pledging to meet the defense spending target for
NATO members of 2 percent of gross domestic product within 10
years.
(30) The United States, Greece, Poland, Estonia, and the
United Kingdom all have exceeded that defense spending
target.
(31) Since the Wales Summit, Latvia, Lithuania, and many
other allies have increased defense spending in an effort to
meet that defense spending target.
(32) NATO remains committed to its open door policy on
enlargement, working with countries in the Euro-Atlantic
region that aspire to join NATO to help meet the requirements
for membership.
(33) General James Jones, United States Marine Corps
(retired), former National Security Advisor, testified before
the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate in July 2016
that ``[o]ur 27 NATO allies offer America forward basing,
which allows us to better fight enemies like ISIS and deter
adversaries like the new Russia and to meet shared
challenges. Twenty-eight countries acting as one is a
powerful alliance''.
(34) Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified before the
Committee on Armed Services of the Senate, during his hearing
as nominee for Secretary of Defense, that ``[w]e must also
embrace our international alliances and security
partnerships. History is clear: Nations with strong allies
thrive and those without them wither''.
(35) There is a long tradition of strong bipartisan
agreement that participation in NATO strengthens the security
of the United States.
(36) NATO is the first peacetime military alliance the
United States entered into outside the Western Hemisphere and
today remains the largest peacetime military alliance in the
world.
(37) A fractured NATO alliance would harm the interests of
the United States and embolden adversaries of the United
States.
(38) A strong and united Europe is important to United
States strategic interests.
(b) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate--
(1) to pledge that the United States will continue to
maintain strong leadership and strengthen its commitments to
NATO;
(2) to strongly encourage NATO members to fulfill their
pledge to invest at least 2 percent of gross domestic product
on defense spending, invest at least 20 percent of such
spending on major equipment (including research and
development), and shoulder appropriate responsibility within
NATO;
(3) to welcome Montenegro as the newest member of NATO;
(4) to recognize the historic contribution and sacrifice
NATO member countries have made while combating terrorism in
Afghanistan through the International Security Assistance
Force and Operation Resolute Support; and
(5) to honor the men and women who served under NATO and
gave their lives to promote peace, security, and
international cooperation since 1949.
______