Letter to the President

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-1801

January 4, 1995

The Honorable Bill Clinton
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We appreciate your letter of October 22, 1994 responding to the letter of September 19, 1994
signed by a bipartisan group of legislators regarding the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty
and constraints on theatre missile defenses.

We welcome your assurances that your Administration is “not going to rush” the process of
negotiating changes to the 1972 ABM Treaty. It is our expectation that the new Congress and
relevant Congressional committees will want, as an early order of business, to examine the
wisdom of expanding the ABM Treaty’s limitations in the name of “demarcating” strategic and
theatre missile defenses and multilateralizing this agreement. We also anticipate that there will be
considerable interest in reviewing the more fundamental issue whether a treaty that is intended to
prohibit an effective defense of the United States against missile attack is consistent with our
Nation’s vital security interests and emerging threats.

Therefore, we respectfully suggest that further negotiations on either the demarcation or
multilateralization efforts, or any other efforts that bear on the viability of the ABM Treaty, be
suspended until the new Congress has had an opportunity to examine these questions with care.

Sincerely,

Honorable Richard K. Armey

Honorable Newt Gingrich

Honorable Floyd Spence

Honorable C.W. Bill Young

Honorable Henry J. Hyde

Honorable Bob Livingston

Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman

Honorable Jerry Lewis

Honorable Christopher Cox

Honorable Joe Skeen

Honorable Larry Combest

Honorable Bill Paxon

Honorable Tom DeLay

Honorable Joe Barton

Honorable Susan Molinari

Honorable Joseph M. McDade

Honorable John A. Boehner