Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, March 23 marks the 20th anniversary of President Reagan's historic address to the Nation in which he launched the program known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI, designed to help protect America and our allies from ballistic missile attack.
I would like to commemorate this occasion by placing a copy of President Reagan's remarks into the RECORD at this time.
With each passing year, we see more clearly the wisdom of President Reagan's vision. The spread of technology relating to ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction has grown enormously in 20 years. Since September 11, 2001--and now as we are engaged in military operations to disarm IRAQ--more people have become aware of the growing threats we face from missile attack.
When President Reagan spoke in 1983, he said it might take ``decades'' before reliable missile defense was a reality. And he was right. As he well knew, it was not only the technical and engineering hurdles that stood in the way, but also the formidable political obstacles.
During the Clinton years, the outdated ABM Treaty was enshrined as the ``cornerstone of strategic stability,''SDI was essentially scrapped, and, in 1996, the Congress's determination to build a missile defense system by 2003 was vetoed.
But George W. Bush dramatically changed the political climate and has taken a different course--a course in keeping with President Reagan's commitment. In 2001, he wisely announced U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, and in 2002, he announced that we would move to deploy the first elements, sea-based and land based
for a real missile defense system capable of protecting U.S. cities from long-range missile attacks.
I applaud President Bush for his steadfast commitment to America's national security and to fulfilling President Reagan's vision. The bold actions he is taking are moving us forward to the actual deployment of a missile defense capability that will serve our country for many years to come.
I ask unanimous consent to have President Reagan's speech printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
Address to the Nation on National Security By President Ronald Reagan--March 23, 1983
The calls for cutting back the defense budget come in nice, simple arithmetic. They're the same kind of talk that
led the democracies to neglect their defenses in the 1930's and invited the tragedy of World War II. We must not
let that grim chapter of history repeat itself through apathy or neglect.
This is why I'm speaking to you tonight--to urge you to tell your Senators and Congressmen that you know we must continue to restore our military strength. If we stop in midstream, we will send a signal of decline, of lessened will, to friends and adversaries alike. Free people must voluntarily, through open debate and democratic means, meet the challenge that totalitarians pose by compulsion. It's up to us, in our time, to choose and choose wisely between the hard but necessary task of preserving peace and freedom and the temptation to ignore our duty and blindly hope for the best while the enemies of freedom grow stronger day by day.
The solution is well within our grasp. But to reach it, there is simply no alternative but to continue this year, in this budget, to provide the resources we need to preserve the peace and guarantee our freedom.
Now, thus far tonight I've shared with you my thoughts on the problems of national security we must face together. My predecessors in the Oval Office have appeared before you on other occasions to describe the threat
posed by Soviet power and have proposed steps to address that threat. But since the advent of nuclear weapons,
those steps have been increasingly directed toward deterrence of aggression through the promise of retaliation.
This approach to stability through offensive threat has worked. We and our allies have succeeded in preventing nuclear war for more than three decades. In recent months, however, my advisers, including in particular the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have underscored the necessity to break out of a future that relies solely on offensive retaliation for our security.
Over the course of these discussions, I've become more and more deeply convinced that the human spirit must be capable of rising above dealing with other nations and human beings by threatening their existence. Feeling this way, I believe we must thoroughly examine every opportunity for reducing tensions and for introducing greater stability into the strategic calculus on both sides.
One of the most important contributions we can make is, of course, to lower the level of all arms, and particularly nuclear arms. We're engaged right now in several negotiations with the Soviet Union to bring about a mutual reduction of weapons. I will report to you a week from tomorrow my thoughts on that score. But let me just say, I'm totally committed to this course.
If the Soviet Union will join with us in our effort to achieve major arms reduction, we will have succeeded in stabilizing the nuclear balance. Nevertheless, it will still be necessary to rely on the specter of retaliation, on mutual threat. And that's a sad commentary on the human condition. Wouldn't it be better to save lives than to avenge
them? Are we not capable of demonstrating our peaceful intentions by applying all our abilities and our ingenuity to
achieving a truly lasting stability? I think we are. Indeed, we must.
After careful consultation with my advisers, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I believe there is a way. Let meshare with you a vision of the future which offers hope. It is that we embark on a program to counter the awesome Soviet missile threat with measures that are defensive. Let us turn to the very strengths in technology that spawned our great industrial base and that have given us the quality of life we enjoy today.
What if free people could live secure in the knowledge that their security did not rest upon the threat of instant U.S. retaliation to deter a Soviet attack, that we could intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil or that of our allies?
I know this is a formidable, technical task, one that may not be accomplished before the end of this century. Yet, current technology has attained a level of sophistication where it's reasonable for us to begin this effort. It will take years, probably decades of effort on many fronts. There will be failures and setbacks, just as there will be successes and breakthroughs. And as we proceed, we must remain constant in preserving the nuclear deterrent
and maintaining a solid capability for flexible response. But isn't it worth every investment necessary to free the
world from the threat of nuclear war? We know it is.
In the meantime, we will continue to pursue real reductions in nuclear arms, negotiating from a position of strength that can be ensured only by modernizing our strategic forces. At the same time, we must take steps to reduce the risk of a conventional military conflict escalating to nuclear war by improving our nonnuclear capabilities.
America does possess--now--the technologies to attain very significant improvements in the effectiveness of our conventional, nonnuclear forces. Proceeding boldly with these new technologies, we can significantly reduce any incentive that the Soviet Union may have to threaten attack against the United States or its allies.
As we pursue our goal of defensive technologies, we recognize that our allies rely upon our strategic offensive power to deter attacks against them. Their vital interests and ours are inextricably linked. Their safety and ours are one. And on change in technology can or will alter that reality. We must and shall continue to honor our commitments.
I clearly recognize that defensive systems have limitations and raise certain problems and ambiguities. If paired with offensive systems, they can be viewed as fostering an aggressive policy, and no one wants that. But with these considerations firmly in mind, I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
Tonight, consistent with our obligations of the ABM treaty and recognizing the need for closer consultation with our allies, I'm taking an important first step. I am directing a comprehensive and intensive effort to define a long-term research and development program to begin to achieve our ultimate goal of eliminating the threat posed by strategic nuclear missiles. This could pave the way for arms control measures to eliminate the weapons themselves. We seek neither military superiority nor political advantage. Our only purpose--one all people share--is to search for ways to reduce the danger of nuclear war.
My fellow Americans, tonight we're launching an effort which holds the promise of changing the course of humanhistory. There will be risks, and results take time. But I believe we can do it. As we cross this threshold, I ask for your prayers and your support.
