    [Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 10, 2018)]
    [Senate]
    [Pages S127-S128]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                Missile Defense

      Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, for about 20 years now, I have viewed the
    development and deployment of a layered ballistic missile defense
    shield as probably singularly the most vital thing we could be doing
    around here. People are aware of that now. Adversaries, like North
    Korea and others, have ballistic missiles, and they are increasing
    their range capability. Iran is getting almost everything. One of the
    problems you have is that you get countries like North Korea developing
    missile capabilities, and if they have it, then other adversaries have
    it. I am talking about Yemen and all the rest of them.
      It is important for us to communicate to the American people that the

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    threat we face is probably the most imminent threat we have had in the
    history of this country. Today, it is the greatest threat we have had
    certainly in my lifetime.
      I have come to the floor and spoken on this issue in 2001, 2009,
    2012, and this will be the fourth time this year. Over the last 30
    years, we have witnessed the missile defense programs go through
    dramatic investment periods, followed by extreme starvation and
    cancellations--I am talking about in the United States--depending on
    who happens to be President at the time.
      Remember, of course, when Reagan came in and people made fun of him
    with ``Star Wars'' and tried to defame him in any way they could. Yet
    he was able to be persistent and start a program, and we should be very
    thankful we have it today. That was followed in 1989 by President Bush.
    He continued that program.
      However, in 1993, when President Clinton was in office, the first
    thing he did was to cut $2.5 billion out of the Bush missile defense
    budget request for fiscal year 1994. He also terminated the Reagan-Bush
    Strategic Defense Initiative and downgraded the National Missile
    Defense Program to a research and development program. He cut 5-year
    missile defense funding by 54 percent, from $39 billion to $18 billion.
      I say this because these times are changing. Continuing with his
    administration in 1996, he cut the funding and slowed down the
    development of THAAD and the Navy Theater Wide Systems. To remind
    ourselves of how important that was at that time and the cuts he made
    to that and how critical that was, THAAD right now is the only thing we
    have to join forces with South Korea to be able to knock down something
    coming from North Korea to South Korea. The Aegis system is a defensive
    system that we could share with Japan. Without these systems, they
    would be wide open. That was 1996.
      In 1999, the last of the Clinton years, he delayed by at least 2
    years the Space Based Infrared System, which is a very complicated
    system that knocks down incoming missiles. Then, in 2000, Bush came in.
    By the end of 2008, President Bush had succeeded in fielding a missile
    defense system capable of defending all 50 States. One of the things he
    did that was most significant--and this is in the final years of his
    administration--was to recognize the fact that we have had ground-based
    interceptors in our country for a number of years. In fact, there are
    44 ground-based interceptor systems. Unfortunately, they are all on the
    west coast because that is where we thought the threat would be. We
    discovered at that time, during the Bush administration, that the
    threat was from both sides because we recognized that Iran was
    developing the capabilities, as well as North Korea and others. So in
    order to protect Eastern United States as well as Central Europe, we
    had the system that was set up. It was kind of funny because I remember
    being there with one of our strongest allies. The system they set up
    was one where they had a radar system in the Czech Republic, and they
    had a rocket system--a ground-based interceptor--in Poland, right next
    door. I remember when Vaclav Klaus was the President of the Czech
    Republic, one of our strongest supporters, and he said to me at that
    time: Now, if we go ahead and put our system in the Czech Republic and
    in Poland, can you assure me that if we incur the wrath of Russia, we
    are not going to end up being embarrassed and have the rug pulled out
    from under us?
      I said: There is not a chance in the world that would happen.
      Well, that did happen. In fact, it was a total of 44 ground-based
    interceptors that were fielded. That was in Alaska and California, on
    the west coast. We went through this where they pulled the rug out from
    under Poland, as well as the Czech Republic. Then, in April, came our
    first Obama defense cuts, which began disarming America and dismantling
    our layered missile defense system. This is critical because we put
    this in for the reason that we perceived the threat to be coming in
    from the east as opposed to the west coast, and the very system that
    would have protected us was taken down by President Obama.
      I would say, due to his overall reduced budget requests in defense,
    there were not enough Aegis ships. I already mentioned how we are using
    those today in defense of many of our allies, including Japan. Since
    Kim Jong Un took power in 2009, he has already conducted more than 80
    ballistic missile tests. That is far more than his father and his
    grandfather conducted.

      North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests of increasingly powerful
    weapons. The latest test was in September of last year. The major test
    actually came after that, and that was on November 28. On November 28,
    he demonstrated that he had the range of the United States and the
    central part of our country. In other words, it was stated by others
    who observed that he now has the capability of reaching any target in
    mainland United States.
      There were some scientists who did an analysis of what they did on
    November 28. They made it very clear. David Wright, an analyst for the
    Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote that--this is something that
    happened on November 29--that yesterday's test indicates that North
    Korea can now hold the United States well within missile range. He
    said: ``Such a missile would have been more than enough range to reach
    Washington, DC, and in fact any other part of the continental United
    States.''
      Here is the scary part of this. Those who are not wanting to believe
    that the threat is real and the threat is there are saying: Well, we
    don't know that the missile he demonstrated on November 28 could have
    reached that range if it had a full payload, a load of a nuclear
    warhead.
      We don't know if they had one or not, but that doesn't give me much
    comfort. They also questioned whether or not it could sustain the
    reentry back into the atmosphere.
      The point is that they now have that capability, and that is
    something we have to keep in mind as we are making decisions, because
    we have decisions to make, and that is what we are doing right now in
    trying to decide how we are going to keep the government from shutting
    down and develop some kind of a budget plan that is going to serve us
    well.