Ehrlich on Washington column, December 8, 1996

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 21093 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of December 8, 1996 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. U.S. NEEDS A NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE In which year did the U.S. complete construction of its national defense system designed to defeat incoming ballistic missiles: 1958, 1963, 1971 or 1985? The answer is: none of the above. Despite facing four decades of possible threat of attack by intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), the U.S. has yet to put a mechanism in place to defend itself from such a scenario. President Clinton is adamant against building such a system. He vetoed the FY 1996 defense legislation because it authorized a national missile defense and he threatened to do the same for FY 1997. Clinton used as his defense a report issued in late 1995 in which the CIA claimed the U.S. did not need a national missile defense system. The report has since been criticized by the non-partisan Government Accounting Office as well as former CIA Director (and Clinton appointee) James Woolsey. For nearly 40 years, the U.S. strategy relied on the threat of massive retaliation to deter the Soviet Union from launching a nuclear strike at American cities. However, the USSR collapsed in 1991 and, with it, possibly control of nuclear ICBMs. The Russian mafia is allegedly dealing in large military systems such as missiles, tanks, and aircraft. The U.S. also has legitimate concerns regarding “direct-use nuclear material,” which can be used to c