‘Veto Bait’: Irresponsible Congressional Cuts In SDI And Other Defense Programs

The Center for Security Policy today welcomed the announced intention of the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking minority member, Alabama Rep. William Dickinson, to seek a presidential veto of the FY1991 defense authorization bill — and the fact that the 256-155 vote on final passage suggests that such a veto would be sustained.

A veto is particularly warranted in light of the largely partisan and entirely shortsighted impulse that seemingly caused the House of Representatives to gut President Bush’s request for the Strategic Defense Initiative. In voting to strip $2.4 billion from the $4.7 billion sought for SDI, the House would — according to Amb. Henry Cooper, the program’s director — “cripple” this program. What is particularly appalling is that it would do so at the very moment that the requirement for its defenses against ballistic missile attack are becoming more necessary.

“It is striking that many legislators have suddenly realized that a crash effort is needed to protect U.S. personnel in the Persian Gulf from the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s ballistic missiles,” noted Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director. “Faced with the imminent peril of chemical, biological and possibly even nuclear weapons being delivered against American servicemen and women, even the most determined opponents of ballistic missile defenses are becoming vocal supporters of tactical defensive systems.”

Gaffney added, “Unfortunately, the conversion may come too late. The present, virtually complete vulnerability of U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East to ballistic missile attack simply cannot be corrected overnight. Consequently, should war break out anytime soon, many thousands of Americans — to say nothing of the citizenry of other, friendly Middle Eastern nations — may be needlessly sacrificed on the alter of a bizarre theory of deterrence which holds that only the utter inability to defend oneself will prevent an attack.”

The Center believes that the time has come when this theory of intentional vulnerability must be jettisoned once and for all. Clearly, it is not enough for members of the U.S. Congress to realize belatedly that forward-deployed troops require protection. The population of the United States deserves no less protection. In fact, the American people — just like the troops dispatched overseas to defend them — should not be compelled to remain vulnerable to ballistic missile attack until the day finally arrives when Congress appreciates the real and growing threat.

The Center urges President Bush to signal at once his intent to veto any legislation that deprives the United States of a vigorous SDI program leading to the earliest possible deployment of robust global defenses against ballistic missile attack.