Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to have been asked to appear before this subcommittee to address the administration's claims that no nuclear missiles are targeted against the United States. My focus is not on the technical questions of those claims, but on public policy.
President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a strategic missile de-targeting agreement in early 1994. The stated purpose of the agreement was to protect the United States and Russia from an accidental or unauthorized nuclear strike by the other.
The administration quickly portrayed the agreement as something much different. Not only did the agreement protect the American people from an accidental Russian missile launch; we were soon told that the threat of Russian nuclear missiles-indeed, of any nuclear missiles-had been eliminated.
Between the signing of the de-targeting agreement and the end of 1996, President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Defense Secretary William Perry, National Security Advisor (and current Director of Central Intelligence-designate) Anthony Lake, and Deputy National Security Advisor (now National Security Advisor) Sandy Berger, stated publicly-on no fewer than 147 occasions-that no Russian nuclear missiles are targeted on the United States and its people.
This is a very serious claim. Yet technical experts say that the claim is impossible to make truthfully, because the de-targeting agreement is inherently impossible to verify. Furthermore, technical experts say that even if Russian strategic missiles are indeed de-targeted, they can be re-targeted easily in a matter of minutes if not less. The degree of civilian control of Russia's strategic forces is also a matter of debate here, as it is in the Russian Federation. I have worked with Russian lawmakers and officials in efforts to promote checks and balances, and have found that they do not exist institutionally.
Of the administration's 147 claims, the President and Vice President have stated unequivocally, at least 33 times, that no nuclear missiles at all are targeted against the United States. The implication is that the People's Republic of China has de-targeted its strategic forces from the U.S., even though Beijing rejected the President's offer for a de-targeting agreement.
An example of the claims is President Clinton's speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on 20 October 1995:
". . . for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there is not a single, solitary nuclear missile pointed at an American child tonight. Not one. Not one. Not a single one."
Mr. Clinton said in a 2 February 1996 speech in Salem, New Hampshire:
"You look at the fact that we now have almost 180 nations committed not to get involved in the nuclear arms race, and the fact that the Russians and others have de-targeted their nuclear missiles so that now there are no more nuclear missiles pointed at any American homes for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age."
Who are these "others"? The President has not told us, even though he pressed on with his claims, informing the citizens of Toledo, Ohio, on 26 August 1996:
". . . for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, on this night, this beautiful night, there is not a single nuclear missile pointed at a child in the United States of America."
Two days later, Vice President Gore told the Democratic National Convention:
"And our strength at home has led to renewed respect abroad: nuclear missiles no longer pointed at our cities. . . ."
These are not simply campaign slogans, but clear statements of policy. They recklessly contribute to a profound sense of complacency that in the post-Cold War world, the American people are f
