Center High-Level Roundtable Highlights Looming Perils for U.S. on — and Over — the Seas

(Washington, D.C.): From the Persian Gulf to the East Asian littorals, dynamic changes in
the
international environment are challenging the United States’ ability to maintain a forward presence
and project the sort of global power required by its security and commercial interests. Such
challenges are the more daunting in light of the dramatic decline in defense spending since 1985
and the attendant reduction in the American military’s force structure. The practical effect of
these mutually reinforcing and ominous trends has been to place an ever-greater
burden upon the
naval services, a burden made all the more unbearable by the absence of additional, offsetting
human and fiscal resources.

To examine the national security implications of this situation, the Center for Security Policy
today convened its latest High-Level Roundtable Discussion on the subject of “The
Future of
U.S. Naval Supremacy.” This event, involving some 80 past and present senior military
officers,
industry leaders, members of the press and a ranking member of the U.S. Senate provided an
excellent overview of one of the most vexing security policy problems of the present era and the
21^st Century.

Context for the discussion was provided by the first Lead Discussant, Vice Admiral
Al
Burkhalter (USN, Ret.). In addition to a distinguished career as an operator and
commander of
undersea forces, Adm. Burkhalter served in a number of senior positions in the U.S. intelligence
community, including that of Director of the Intelligence Community Staff. He summarized the
“Post-Cold War Challenges to U.S. Security Interests,” including the availability of sophisticated
military technologies to an ever-larger number of potential adversaries.

Admiral Wesley L. McDonald (USN, Ret.), former Supreme Allied
Commander Atlantic and
Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Command, then drew upon his experience as a past
Regional CINC to lead a discussion of the Navy’s unique contribution to meeting such post-Cold
War threats, and its growing inability to make that contribution everywhere it is being asked to do
so. He warned that fiscal considerations — rather than realistic judgments about present to
say
nothing of emerging security conditions — have driven the Navy to a force structure that is
simply
inadequate to perform its various missions.

The Roundtable, which was held at the ANA Hotel in Washington, then turned to an
emerging
job for the U.S. Navy: Global missile defense. Led by Frank J.
Gaffney, Jr., director of the
Center for Security Policy and formerly a senior official in the Reagan Defense Department, this
section of the program called attention to the U.S. government policy that one participant called
“criminally irresponsible,” a policy of leaving the American people vulnerable to attack by
weapons of mass destruction — whether delivered by ballistic missiles or other means.

Mr. Gaffney showed a 15-minute film produced by the Center for Security Policy and entitled
“America the Vulnerable.” This video features some of the Nation’s foremost
previous
security policy practitioners — both past and present, including: House Speaker Newt
Gingrich,
Governor Pete Wilson, Sens. Jon Kyl and Thad
Cochran, Rep. Bob Livingston, Amb. Jeane
Kirkpatrick, Edwin Meese, Jim Woolsey,
Richard Allen, Richard Perle and Dr. Henry
Cooper. The film and ensuing discussion called particular attention to the opportunity
to take
advantage of the roughly $50 billion investment already made in the Navy’s AEGIS fleet
air
defense system to begin providing near-term and affordable protection of the American
people,
as well as U.S. forces and allies overseas, against short- and long-range missile
attack.

The morning’s program concluded with a singularly informative presentation and subsequent
discussion concerning the Navy’s future, if present trends are allowed to continue. The presenter
and Lead Discussant was Ronald O’Rourke, Specialist in National Defense
concentrating on
naval matters at the Congressional Research Service. Particularly sobering was Mr. O’Rourke’s
forecast that the Navy was on a glide-slope to have perhaps as few as 250 ships in the fleet by the
mid-2020s. He noted that the effect of present, very low-level combatant ship-construction rates
would be particularly pronounced in the submarine force. He predicted, however, that the
undersea component’s sharply depleted condition after the 21^st Century’s first
decade would be
mirrored to a considerable degree by the Navy as a whole — unless corrective action is taken in
the not-too-distant-future.

The Roundtable was capped by a working luncheon featuring remarks by Keynote Speaker
Senator John Warner (R-VA). Sen. Warner has a long
association with the naval services as a
result of his current responsibilities as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Sea
Power Subcommittee and his previous incarnation as an officer in and Secretary of the United
States Navy. Senator Warner spoke candidly of his concern about: the public’s inattention to the
growing importance of U.S. maritime power; the absence of serious scrutiny being given to
national security issues by many of his colleagues on both sides of Capitol Hill; and the serious
shortfalls arising as a result of years of deferred investment, attrition of skilled personnel and
excessive commitments of U.S. naval forces.

A summary of the Roundtable Discussion will be available shortly. To obtain a copy, please
contact the Center by telephone (202-835-9077), fax (202-835-9066) or via E-mail:
[email protected].

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