[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4418-4419]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    25TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN'S STRATEGIC DEFENSE 
                               INITIATIVE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, this month will mark the 25th 
anniversary since President Ronald Reagan gave that landmark speech at 
the zenith of the Cold War proposing what became known as the Strategic 
Defense Initiative to protect the United States of America and her 
allies and her vital interests from ballistic nuclear missile attack.
  In that speech he unveiled a vision for the research, development, 
and ultimate deployment of a defensive non-nuclear-layered missile 
defense system that would give us the means to intercept and destroy 
incoming strategic nuclear missiles and render the threat of a nuclear 
attack from the Soviet Union impotent and obsolete. President Ronald 
Reagan's speech marked the end of a chapter in American history when 
the policies of appeasement and accommodation formed the basis of our 
foreign policy and the concept of mutually assured destruction was the 
only viable solution to the Soviet threat.
  The apathy that caused democracies to neglect their defense in the 
1930s had resulted in the tragedy of World War II. President Reagan 
reminded the world that it must not allow a similar apathy or neglect 
to cause that dismal chapter in history to repeat itself.
  Speaking with that gentle but confident persuasiveness that would set 
him apart as the Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan rejected the specter 
of mutual retaliation and stood alone among Washington bureaucracy in 
the belief that our security is based on the ability to meet all 
threats and that peace must be preserved through strength. He knew that 
developing this revolutionary capability of ballistic missile defense 
would not be easy or a short-lived task. He said, ``It will take years, 
perhaps decades of efforts on many fronts. There will be failures and 
setbacks, just as there will be successes and breakthroughs; and as we 
proceed, we must remain constant in preserving the nuclear deterrent 
and maintaining a solid capability for flexible response.''
  It seems that every revolutionary idea or stride toward greater human 
freedom is marked first by resistance and ridicule. President Reagan's 
daring SDI proposition was no exception. Indeed, American 
intelligentsia berated the idea that America should abandon its 
complacency and embrace a policy towards Communism as clear and simple 
and unapologetic as what Ronald Reagan stated in four words: ``We win, 
they lose.''
  But hundreds of millions of people now live in freedom because of his 
clarity and his courage. Less than 9 years after Ronald Reagan gave his 
Evil Empire and Strategic Defense Initiative speeches, marking the 
beginning of what would become the United States' ballistic missile 
defense program, the entire world stood in stunned wonder and witnessed 
the dissolution of the once unshakeable Soviet Union.
  Today, under the vigilant and dedicated leadership of the Missile 
Defense Agency and the United States Armed Forces, ballistic missile 
defense technology has gone beyond development and testing. It is now 
operationally deployed by the United States and our allies in different 
parts of the world.
  Only weeks ago, on February 21, 2008, President Ronald Reagan's 
vision, once labeled Star Wars by his deriding critics, was vindicated 
before the world when a Standard Missile-3 rocket fired from the USS 
Lake Erie intercepted a disabled satellite tumbling from space toward 
Earth at over 17,000 miles per hour.
  The pivotal significance of Ronald Reagan's almost prophetic vision 
no longer can be tested. More than ever it is vital for this Congress 
to continue to advance his vision of a layered ballistic missile 
defense system capable of defending land, air, sea, and space against 
rapidly evolving missile threats in a now-multipolar world.
  President Reagan knew that if America was to remain a shining city 
upon a hill, it must remain secure. If it was to remain secure, it must 
remain strong. He also knew that the costs for maintaining that 
strength would be great.
  But in his SDI speech of 25 years ago, President Reagan himself asked 
the most important and salient question

[[Page 4419]]

about America's national security. He said: ``Isn't it worth every 
investment necessary to free the world from the threat of nuclear 
war?''
  His question is as relevant today as it was then. May we of this 
generation honor the legacy of President Ronald Reagan, whose courage 
and commitment to protect the peace and national security of America 
not only hastened the demise of the Soviet Empire but transformed our 
strategic defense policy and gave us the means to ensure that America 
remains the beacon of hope, strength, and human freedom in the world 
for generations to come.

                          ____________________