WHEN SEVEN SECDEFS SPEAK, WILL CONGRESS LISTEN? NEW VOICES JOIN CENTER’S CALL FOR MORE B-2 BOMBERS

(Washington, D.C.): In a remarkably auspicious
start to 1995, seven former Secretaries of Defense — representing
every Democratic and Republican Administration since
Richard Nixon’s — have joined forces on behalf of
one of the most important, and most endangered, programs
in the Pentagon budget: the B-2 “Stealth”
bomber. Under the auspices of the Alexis de Tocqueville
Institution’s Committee for the Common Defense, Melvin
Laird, James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Harold Brown,
Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney wrote a
joint appeal (see
attachment) to President Clinton urging that the
opportunity to secure full value from a $20+ billion
investment in the B-2 program not be squandered by a
premature termination of production of this aircraft.

The arguments advanced by the Secretaries of Defense
concentrate on the importance of maintaining a strong and
flexible long-range manned bomber force in the present —
and prospective — strategic environment. They note that
“the end of the Cold War was neither the end of
history nor the end of danger.” They also observe
that, without continued production of the B-2, it will be
exceedingly difficult for the United States to maintain
an inventory of 200 bomber aircraft — a force the
Secretaries say “is not enough to meet future
requirements, particularly in view of the attrition that
would occur in a conflict and the eventual need to retire
the B-52 [force].”

In a statement that should be of particular
interest to a Republican-dominated Congress that is
determined to make government more efficient, keep down
federal spending and yet maintain a strong national
defense, the seven former Secretaries of Defense
observed:

“…[The B-2] remains the most cost-effective
means of rapidly projecting force over great
distances. Its range will enable it to reach any
point on earth within hours after launch while being
deployed at only three secure bases around the world.
Its payload and array of munitions will permit it to
destroy numerous time-sensitive targets in a single
sortie. And perhaps most importantly, its
low-observable characteristics will allow it to reach
intended targets without fear of interception.”

These arguments have long been advanced by the Center
for Security Policy. They featured prominently, for
example, in a High-Level Center Roundtable Discussion⁽¹⁾ held last
spring on “the Future of the Manned Bomber
Force.” Secretaries James Schlesinger and Caspar
Weinberger participated in this day-long discussion as
did, among others: the present Commander of the Air
Combat Command, Gen. John M. Loh; former Secretary
of the Navy and Defense Department Comptroller Sean
O’Keefe; former Under Secretaries of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz and Donald Hicks; Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense Frank Miller;
senior representatives of the Congressional Budget
Office and the Defense Budget Project; and top
journalists from a number of national and trade
publications.

The Center for Security Policy commends former Representative
Jim Courter — a long-time and valued member of its
Board of Advisors — who founded and chairs the de
Tocqueville Institution’s Committee on the Common
Defense, and his organization for facilitating this
important new contribution to the debate over the B-2
bomber. It urges every Member of the 104th Congress to
heed the wise counsel of these seven distinguished
Secretaries of Defense.

(1) See, The Case for
Continued Production of the B-2 Bomber: Center Roundtable
Shows Why the U.S. Can’t Afford to Stop Now, ( href=”index.jsp?section=papers&code=94-P_64″>No. 94-P 64, 24 June 1994)
and its attached summary.