THE ENVELOPE PLEASE…

(Washington, D.C.): Today’s Washington Times chronicles
an important moment in the life of a senior Clinton
Administration arms control official — Steven Steiner,
U.S. Commissioner of the Joint Compliance and Implementation
Commission (established under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty) and the Special Verification Commission
(established under the START I Treaty). What makes this event
noteworthy, however, is the fact that the award was Russia’s
Nadiradze Medal — and that it was given for Mr.
Steiner’s “remarkable contribution to the
progress of Russian rocket technologies.”

Mr. Steiner’s distinction is the more impressive for his being
the first foreigner ever to receive the Nadiradze Medal.
It was conferred by Lev Solomonev, a man who — as head of the
Votkinsk missile-design bureau and chief designer of the SS-25
mobile intercontinental ballistic missile — is in an excellent
position to evaluate the relative importance of the
“remarkable” Steiner “contribution to the progress
of Russian rocket technology.” Presumably, Dr. Solomonev is
referring to Mr. Steiner’s pivotal role in eroding
provisions of the INF and START treaties — provisions intended
to make it more difficult for Russia to pursue missile programs
in ways that skirt, circumvent or violate these accords.
With considerable thanks to his efforts, Russian missiles are
being removed from the Votkinsk final assembly facility and/or
being made available for export under the guise of “space
launch vehicles” that would not otherwise be legal.

The Steiner award has prompted the Center for Security Policy
to consider other members of the Clinton Administration’s foreign
policy team who should be eligible for similar distinctions.
These could include:

• Secretary of Defense William Perry — The
  People’s Liberation Army Prize for Defense Modernization.
  As documented in a distressing article by
  Kenneth Timmerman published in the American Spectator
  last April, Mr. Perry has contributed personally and
  dramatically to the Chinese PLA’s efforts to acquire the
  advanced, militarily-relevant U.S. technology crucial to
  its offensive weapons build-up.
• Secretary of State Warren Christopher — The
  Syrian Distinguished Service Medal: With more
  than twenty pilgrimages to Damascus, Mr. Christopher has
  afforded Syrian dictator Hafez Assad a stature and
  credibility he could not conceivably have obtained
  otherwise. The Secretary of State demonstrated particular
  valor in sustaining his obsequiousness in the face of a
  barrage of offensive diplomatic sleights and other
  evidence of Assad’s contempt.
• Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch —
  The U.N. Intelligence Enhancement Award: With
  his commitment to providing sensitive U.S. information to
  “intelligence customers” at multinational
  institutions like the United Nations and in foreign
  capitals, Director Deutch has earned the heartfelt
  gratitude of espionage operatives and despotic security
  services the world-over at a likely breathtaking cost to
  American taxpayers and security interests.
• Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert
  Gallucci — The ‘Dear Leader’ Citation: In the
  course of his service as President Clinton’s
  troubleshooter on the North Korean nuclear crisis,
  Secretary Gallucci negotiated an agreement that allowed
  Pyongyang to trade in two old nuclear reactors for two
  new, Western-financed ones capable of producing vastly
  larger quantities of weapons-useable material. In
  addition, Mr. Gallucci endeared himself to Kim Jong-Il
  and his ascendant military by postponing meaningful
  inspections, supplying oil and canceling joint exercises
  with South Korea. In the same spirit that earned Steve
  Steiner his commendation, Secretary Gallucci was able to
  provide all these concessions without demanding that
  North Korea’s threatening ballistic missile program be
  terminated.
• Former Assistant Secretary of State Richard
  Holbrooke — The Serbian Legion d’Honneur:
  As the lead U.S. negotiator on the Balkans catastrophe,
  Mr. Holbrooke earned the lasting gratitude of the worst
  war criminal of all, Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.
  After all, Holbrooke’s lionization of Milosevic as the
  indispensable man required to produce the false peace of
  Dayton transformed “Slobo” from the prime-mover
  behind expansionist ethnic cleansing into a unindictable,
  world-class “partner for peace.”
• Under Secretary of State Lynn Davis — The COCOM
  Memorial Award: Among other distinctions, Ms.
  Davis has presided over the dismantling of the valuable
  Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls
  (COCOM) — an informal multilateral organization that
  helped to staunch the flow of strategic dual-use
  technologies to dangerous end-users during the Cold War.
  She has also been responsible for the thus-far-futile
  effort to replace COCOM with a regime that has even a
  fraction of its effectiveness. This award recognizes the
  appreciation of the myriad rogue states and their friends
  who are benefiting from the greatly improved access to,
  among other things, weapons of mass destruction and
  ballistic missile technologies.
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John
  Shalikashvili — The Order of the Ayatollah: This
  award recognizes the critical role now being played by
  the Nation’s top military officer in arguing against the
  prompt deployment of effective U.S. anti-missile
  defenses. Gen. Shalikashvili’s role was much in evidence
  in the filibuster conducted by Senate Democrats today to
  prevent consideration of the “Defend America
  Act,” legislation sponsored by outgoing Majority
  Leader and Republican presidential nominee Robert Dole
  aimed at securing near-term missile protection for the
  American people. Those bent on acquiring the ballistic
  missiles with which to threaten or harm the people,
  territory and interests of the United States are deeply
  appreciative of the political cover being given by Gen.
  Shali to the Clinton Administration and its allies on
  Capitol Hill who are perpetuating U.S. vulnerability.
• Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott — The
  Chechnya War Ribbon with Oak Leaf Clusters: As
  the principal Administration policy-maker on Russia —
  and lead apologist for Moscow’s predations at home and
  abroad — Deputy Secretary Talbott has been instrumental
  in morphing Boris Yeltsin’s blatant genocide in Chechnya
  into the morally defensible equivalent of Abraham
  Lincoln’s determination to preserve a voluntarily formed
  union during the Civil War. He has also assured the
  continued flow of political and taxpayer-supplied
  life-support to a Yeltsin regime increasingly run by
  Yevgeny Primakov and the former Soviet apparat.

The Bottom Line

Of course, President Clinton as Commander-in-Chief should
properly share in the recognition earned by each of his
aforementioned, deserving subordinates. It should, however, fall
to the American people to evaluate his worthiness for the
ultimate award — a renewed mandate and the Nation’s trust.

– 30 –