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December 1999 United States Special Weapons
Nuclear, Biological, Chemical and Missile
Proliferation News

• YEARENDER: U-S FOREIGN POLICY - TWO Voice of America 21 December 1999 -- As U-S officials try to develop a post-Cold War foreign policy, many foreign policy experts debate what they see as the need to reconcile two sometimes conflicting needs - the desire to do good in the world and the requirement to defend U-S national interests.
• YEARENDER: U-S FOREIGN POLICY - ONE Voice of America 21 December 1999 -- Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, America has been searching for a new foreign policy. During the Cold War, containment was generally the U-S response to Soviet expansionism.
• NORAD Continues Santa Tracking Tradition American Forces Press Service 14 December 1999 -- NORAD attempts to set the record straight in regards to outrageous allegations that have been made by several fifth grade students as to the existence of Santa Claus.
• Arms Control -- A Review of 1999 and a Look Ahead to the Year 2000 John Holum, Senior Adviser to the President and Secretary of State for Arms Control, Nonproliferation, Disarmament - Foreign Press Center Briefing Transcript Thursday December 9, 1999 -- We've got a big agenda next year. I mentioned the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. We'll continue our efforts to engage with the Senate to ratify the treaty. Meanwhile, as the president has said, we will not conduct nuclear tests and we'll encourage other countries to ratify. We strongly believe that this treaty will ultimately come into force. As far as specific de-alerting proposals are concerned, no one has yet, that I've seen, come up with a reliable means of doing that that would be verifiable and at the same time something each side would be willing to do.
• Defense Speech Remarks of Senator John McCain Intrepid Freedom Award New York City, December 7, 1999 -- We must use both public and private diplomacy, targeted economic measures, and military assistance to aid forces seeking freedom from rogue regimes. But we must be prepared to back up these measures with American military force when the continued existence of such rogue states threatens America's interests and values. Most importantly, of course, we must defend the United States itself from ballistic missile attack. Moreover, we must make sure that a missile defense is flexible so that the existing proposal for relying on ground-based interceptors can be upgraded over time with new technologies, such as space-based and boost-phase defenses, as necessary.
• McCain: Political Leaders To Blame For Unprepared Military December 7, 1999 -- "It's time we tell our friends and adversaries alike, that ballistic missile defense is now a national priority, not just another Pentagon program," said McCain. Referring to Russian and Chinese complaints that the deployment of American missile defenses would violate the 1972 ABM Treaty, McCain stated, "we should sit down with Russia and see whether the ABM Treaty can be altered to permit both of our countries to respond to ballistic missile threats. But I want to be candid with you - if these talks fail, I will do what is right for the security of millions of Americans and for global strategic stability. I will withdraw from a treaty that has become a relic of the Cold War if it cannot be made relevant to our current security needs."
• Self-Determination: From Versailles to Dayton and Beyond Strobe Talbott Speech at Brown University USIA 02 December 1999 -- That principle is this: on the one hand, international borders should not be changed by force -- either by wars of aggression or by wars of secession; on the other hand, governments have a responsibility not just to defend the territorial integrity of the state, but also to establish and preserve the civic integrity of the population.
• Remarks of Senator John McCain -- National Jewish Coalition December 1, 1999 -- The United States is experiencing a unique "unipolar moment" in world affairs. We can all agree that the moment will not last forever. To those Americans who oppose the extending our period of pre-eminence I ask: To which power or powers would you choose to subordinate the power and influence of the United States? Just as the Reagan Doctrine exploited the vulnerabilities of the Soviet Empire to hasten its collapse, we must exploit the weaknesses of these international outlaws - a policy of rogue state rollback. It does entail risks and it does require commitment. But in my judgement the risks are significantly less than those we would incur by allowing these pariahs to pursue their ambitions unchallenged. Rogue state rollback would use various means to undermine outlaw regimes. I would use both overt and covert military assistance where appropriate to materially assist forces within rogue states that intend to fight for their freedom, and I would provide concrete support for legitimate external opposition groups.

FAS | News | USA | 1999 |||| Index | Search |