Schlesinger, Gaffney Make Case For Continued, Robust U.S. Nuclear Deterrence, Decry Clinton Policies Endangering It

(Washington, D.C.): If the latest crisis over Saddam Hussein’s resurgent biological, chemical and
nuclear weapons programs has done nothing else, it has underscored the need for the United
States to retain a credible deterrent to the use of such Iraqi weaponry of mass destruction.
Complementary articles appearing in the op.ed. pages of Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal and
Tuesday’s Washington Times make clear, however, that the robustness and reliability of that
deterrent is in jeopardy thanks to policies being pursued — and others now under consideration —
by the Clinton Administration.

The 19 November edition of the Wall Street Journal featured excerpts of testimony given last
month by former Secretary of the Departments of Defense and Energy James Schlesinger. On
27 October, Dr. Schlesinger appeared before Senator Thad Cochran’s Governmental Affairs
Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and Federal Services in the first hearing
dealing with the Clinton Administration’s controversial Comprehensive Test Ban (CTB) Treaty,
now awaiting the Senate’s advice and consent.⁽¹⁾

In the attached article, entitled “Nukes: Test Them or Lose Them,” Secretary Schlesinger makes
clear that the United States is taking potentially grave risks if it is unable realistically to test
the effects of aging on a stockpile that is approaching the end of its designed shelf-life. Dr.
Schlesinger — whose past service as chairman of the Joint Atomic Energy Commission, Director
of Central Intelligence, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy gives him unparalleled
authority on nuclear weapons matters — sternly warned the Senate that these risks will not be
eliminated by the Clinton Administration’s proposed technical “fix,” known as the Stockpile
Stewardship Program (SSP):

“…No one now has either the experience or the knowledge to judge the degree of
success of the [SSP]….It will be more than a decade before we can judge how
successful the Stockpile Stewardship Program will have been, and [government and
national laboratory experts] recognize that never before have we depended on weapons
as old as those steadily aging weapons in the stockpile.”

Secretary Schlesinger also impressed upon Senators that, notwithstanding the end of the
Cold War, the United States has an abiding requirement for nuclear deterrence. He notes,
“Though it has abandoned chemical and biological weapons, the U.S. has threatened to retaliate
with nuclear weapons to such an attack. In the Gulf War, such a threat apparently was sufficient
to intimidate Saddam Hussein from employing chemical weapons.”

A similar point was made in a column by the Center for Security Policy’s director, Frank J.
Gaffney, Jr. which appeared on 18 November 1997 in the Washington Times. Under the headline
“Risks of Abandoning Deterrence,” Mr. Gaffney argues that Saddam’s current machinations⁽²⁾
adds urgency to ensuring the U.S. retains the most effective possible means of deterring the Iraqi
despot’s potential use of weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, the ill-advised
Comprehensive Test Ban is just facet of a self-described Clinton Administration agenda of “de-nuclearization.” Steps already taken, and others now being considered, that have the effect of
“de-posturing” America’s strategic forces seriously exacerbate the dangers identified by Dr.
Schlesinger.

The Center for Security Policy hopes that the present crisis with Iraq will not only help to shatter
illusions about the wisdom of decimating the United States’ conventional military capabilities and
force structure. This crisis should also provide a wake-up call to those — in the Senate and
outside it — who have, to date, evinced little concern about the now-far-advanced Clinton
program that is unilaterally denuclearizing this country. If aroused to the dangers illuminated
by Messrs. Schlesinger and Gaffney this week, it seems inconceivable that 67 Senators will be
willing to assent to the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban, the highest profile and
leading-edge of the denuclearization campaign.

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1. For additional information concerning this important hearing, see the Center’s Decision Brief
entitled First Blood on C.T.B.: Bush, Schlesinger, Barker Make Compelling Case for
Continued Nuclear Testing (No. 97-D 160, 28 October 1997).

2. For more on the unraveling effort to “contain” Saddam Hussein, see Clinton Legacy Watch #
10: Administration Ineptitude, Appeasement Put Saddam, Primakov Back in Driver’s Seat
(No. 97-D 173, 20 November 1997).