[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8453-8455]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              NORTH KOREA

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to talk this evening about a very 
serious threat to the United States; that is, the threat from North 
Korea and what we in the Congress should be doing about it.
  Now, over the weekend we saw another piece of news about how the 
North Korean regime is again testing missiles, testing for 
intercontinental ballistic missiles, more missile launches, literally 
two in the last 2 weeks.
  I would say this is one of the most serious threats facing the United 
States of America right now because what has now become clear, it is no 
longer if Kim Jong Un and the North Korean regime will have the ability 
to range the United States of America with an intercontinental 
ballistic nuclear missile. It is no longer if. It is when.
  This has been stated time and time again in open hearings we have had 
on the Armed Services Committee with generals and some of the top 
experts in the United States. It used to be, hey, maybe he would have 
this capability sometime down the road. Maybe he will never get it. 
They are not saying that any longer. Think about that. Every American 
should be thinking about that. It is no longer if but when one of the 
craziest dictators in the world will have the capability to launch an 
intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile. It is not just ranging my 
State, the great State of Alaska, which unfortunately for me and my 
constituents is in the

[[Page 8454]]

line of fire earlier than other States or Hawaii, which faces similar 
risks to Alaska, but we are talking about the continental United 
States. We are talking about Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles. It is 
not if but when.
  So yesterday in front of the Armed Services Committee, the Director 
of National Intelligence, our good friend, former Senator Dan Coats, 
when I asked him and General Stewart, the top military officer for our 
intelligence agencies, when they thought this was going to happen--
well, it is a classified number and it is a classified time. I actually 
think it should be unclassified, given their estimates, to let the 
American people know what is coming because it is probably a lot 
sooner, at least in the estimates, than most people think. So that is 
what we are facing right now, and people should be concerned about it.
  Let me give you a little bit more on the facts of this. Kim Jong Un, 
the leader of North Korea, the unstable dictator of North Korea, has 
publicly stated it is his goal to develop a nuclear-capable 
intercontinental ballistic missile that can strike the continental 
United States. Now, let's just be clear. This is a man who starves his 
own citizens, sentences them by the tens of thousands to inhumane labor 
camps, and just a month ago allegedly assassinated his half-brother in 
a Malaysian airport with poison to kill him.
  In fact, since assuming power just 5 years ago, as my next chart 
shows, Kim Jong Un has conducted more missile tests and twice as many 
nuclear tests as both his father and grandfather did in their 60 years 
of ruling over North Korea. Look at these numbers: That is the Kim Jong 
Un regime, Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung. So he is focused on this more than 
his father and grandfather were. As I mentioned, it seems almost daily 
there is another one of these missile tests or even nuclear tests.
  Now, one of the things you see in the press sometimes is, well, some 
of these missile tests are failing. There have been failures, and there 
have been notable successes, such as the country's first intermediate 
range ballistic missile, its first submarine launch ballistic missile, 
its first solid fuel launch missile, and its ability to put satellites 
in space. This is actual progress. This is significant progress.
  On the nuclear side, the country's fifth test--and Kim Jong Un's 
third--had an estimated yield in terms of its power of 15 to 20 
kilotons, approximately the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on 
Hiroshima. While this yield was not as large as they were expecting, 
the test again on the nuclear side shows steady progress in their 
nuclear program and steady progress in their ballistic missile program.
  So what does all this mean? Why is Kim Jong Un testing so often? Even 
though he fails, he is still learning. That is exactly what the 
commander of U.S. Strategic Command said last month during a Senate 
Armed Services hearing.
  Gen. John Hyten stated: North Korea is going fast. Test, fail, test, 
fail, succeed. They are learning, and as you can see them learning, 
they are developing the capabilities for intercontinental ballistic 
missiles. That is how it works in the rocket business.
  That is happening right now. That is happening right now. That is in 
the news right now.
  Also in the news is what the United States has been doing to protect 
our allies from this and other threats. So let me give you an example. 
There has been a lot of news about the THAAD deployment, a missile 
defense system in South Korea deployed by the U.S. Army to protect our 
troops and South Korea's citizens, to protect our troops in Korea, 
protect our troops in Japan, and to protect our allies. Now, I am very 
supportive of this--very supportive of this.
  The President is on his Middle East trip. He is going to Europe now. 
He mentioned just a few days ago maybe having a THAAD system in Saudi 
Arabia, an American system to help protect the Saudis from the Iranian 
missile threat. Again, I am very supportive.
  As the Presiding Officer knows, in our last National Defense 
Authorization Act, we had significant authorization and funding to help 
Israel protect itself with a missile defense system, the Iron Dome 
system, where we have been working with the Israelis to help their 
citizens be protected against an Iranian missile threat.
  Again, I support all of these. I applaud these efforts, I have 
supported them, I voted for them, but it does beg the question that 
some of my constituents back home in Alaska are beginning to ask, and I 
am sure other Americans are asking in every State in the country: What 
about us? What about the United States? What about the U.S. homeland? 
Isn't that where Kim Jong Un said he wants to launch intercontinental 
ballistic nuclear missiles? It is. It is exactly where he said he wants 
to do it.
  The bottom line is, we need to do much more to protect ourselves. We 
need to do much more to protect the United States of America. Yes, we 
need to protect our allies, but we need to start focusing a little bit 
more on home, and we need to start focusing now.
  In fact, if we know this threat is coming, which we do--there has 
been testimony after testimony--I think it would be the height of 
irresponsibility to not start working on increasing America's homeland 
missile defense. That is what we should be doing.
  That is why I have introduced a very bipartisan bill called the 
Advancing America's Missile Defense Act of 2017. Again, Republicans and 
Democrats are already on the bill. I believe the Presiding Officer is 
now a cosponsor.
  I would like to paint a scenario that we all know will happen 
unfortunately sometime in the future--again, on why this bill is so 
important, why what we need to be doing on missile defense is so 
important.
  Just think through the headline. Let's assume a couple years down the 
road Kim Jong Un has this capability to launch an intercontinental 
nuclear ballistic missile to hit a lower 48 city. Well, we know that is 
going to start leaking out. The headlines will be front page, banner 
headlines: Dictator of North Korea can range Chicago, New York. It will 
be all over the news. It will be the only thing we talk about.
  There will be enormous pressure on the White House and others to do 
something about this. On that day when we see the banner headlines, a 
lot of Americans will be very nervous. The American people and the 
American media will look at the people in the Pentagon, will look at 
the people in Congress, will look at the leadership in the White House, 
and will ask three critical questions. Are we safe? Did we see this 
coming? Have we been doing anything about it and, if so, what? That is 
what they are going to ask.
  We know that day is coming. We are not sure when, but we know that 
day is coming--again, not if, but when. People are going to ask those 
questions. If we know that, and we do, we need to be able to say to all 
three of those questions--whether it is the Secretary of Defense, the 
President of the United States, or whether it is all of us here, the 
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, we need to be able to answer 
the American people and say: Yes, we are safe; yes, we saw this coming; 
and yes, we have the world's most robust, technologically advanced, 
capable missile defense system that will with near certainty shoot down 
any North Korean missile launch at the United States and give our 
President and the Congress the strategic time and space to make 
potentially world-altering decisions.
  We know this is coming, and I think we should be doing everything we 
can in our power to focus on it, so we will be safe, and we will be 
able to say yes to all three of those questions if we begin to 
seriously focus on America's missile defense, which is what our 
legislation is all about.
  Unfortunately, our Nation has not always been focused on funding our 
missile defense system, and in many ways the funding has been erratic. 
As the Center for Strategic and International Studies put it recently, 
such funding for America's missile defense has been marked by high 
ambition, followed by increasing modesty. I think the time for modesty 
on an issue of this importance is over.

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  From 2006 to 2016, homeland missile defense funding, adjusted for 
inflation, declined nearly 50 percent, and homeland missile defense 
testing declined more than 83 percent. The goal of our bill is to 
change that and change it significantly. Among its other elements, 
Advancing America's Missile Defense Act will grow our U.S. base missile 
interceptors from what we have now, which is about 44, to as many as 72 
and will require our military to look at having up to 100 interceptors 
distributed across the United States.
  The bill will also authorize the more rapid deployment of new and 
better kill vehicles. These are the bullets, essentially, on top of the 
warheads. It will allow a layer of space-based sensors and radars to 
track missile threats from launch to intercept, a technological 
advancement that would improve all missile systems to make sure we have 
a layered missile defense, whether it is THAAD in Asia, Aegis Ashore 
and on ships, or our missile system here at home--all of it integrated. 
Right now we don't have that.
  The bill also will increase the pace of missile defense testing to 
allow U.S. forces to learn from actual launches of our defense systems 
and increase the confidence we have in our system and its 
effectiveness. This is very important. The Department of Defense needs 
to change the culture around missile defense, testing regularly and 
conducting more flight tests. Unfortunately, every test is not always 
going to be a success. It is OK to fail because we learn from failure.
  I don't like to admit on the floor of the U.S. Senate that we could 
learn something from the North Koreans, but that is the approach they 
are taking. That is why their missile and nuclear programs are 
advancing so rapidly. They are not afraid to fail.
  What we need to do is enhance our testing, enhance our missile 
defense, enhance our capabilities because, as I mentioned at the 
outset, it is no longer if, but when. That day is coming, and we need 
to be ready for it, and the United States Senate can lead in addressing 
this very significant challenge to America's national security.
  I am encouraged that our bill has already gotten strong bipartisan 
support from Democrats and Republicans because they know how important 
it is. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle truly understand 
the significance and seriousness of this threat, and I hope they can 
continue to support our Advancing America's Missile Defense Act of 
2017. There are very few foreign policy and national security issues 
that are more important than making sure we address this threat to 
America's security.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

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