I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3144

To establish a United States policy for the deployment of a national missile

defense system, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 21, 1996

Mr. LIVINGSTON (for himself, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. SPENCE, Mr.

GILMAN, Mr. KASICH, Mr. HYDE, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. HUNTER,

and Mr. HOKE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on National Security, and in addition to the Committee on

International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To establish a United States policy for the deployment of

a national missile defense system, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defend America Act

5 of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Although the United States possesses the

2 technological means to develop and deploy defensive

3 systems that would be highly effective in countering

4 limited ballistic missile threats to its territory, the

5 United States has not deployed such systems and

6 currently has no policy to do so.

7 (2) The threat that is posed to the national se8 curity of the United States by the proliferation of

9 ballistic missiles is significant and growing, both

10 quantitatively and qualitatively.

11 (3) The trend in ballistic missile proliferation is

12 toward longer range and increasingly sophisticated

13 missiles.

14 (4) Several countries that are hostile to the

15 United States (including North Korea, Iran, Libya,

16 and Iraq) have demonstrated an interest in acquir17 ing ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United

18 States.

19 (5) The Intelligence Community of the United

20 States has confirmed that North Korea is developing

21 an intercontinental ballistic missile that will be capa22 ble of reaching Alaska or beyond once deployed.

23 (6) There are ways for determined countries to

24 acquire missiles capable of threatening the United
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1 States with little warning by means other than in2 digenous development.

3 (7) Because of the dire consequences to the

4 United States of not being prepared to defend itself

5 against a rogue missile attack and the long-lead time

6 associated with preparing an effective defense, it is

7 prudent to commence a national missile defense de8 ployment effort before new ballistic missile threats to

9 the United States are unambiguously confirmed.

10 (8) The timely deployment by the United States

11 of an effective national missile defense system will

12 reduce the incentives for countries to develop or oth13 erwise acquire intercontinental ballistic missiles,

14 thereby inhibiting as well as countering the pro15 liferation of missiles and weapons of mass destruc16 tion.

17 (9) Deployment by the United States of a na18 tional missile defense system will reduce concerns

19 about the threat of an accidental or unauthorized

20 ballistic missile attack on the United States.

21 (10) The offense-only approach to strategic de22 terrence presently followed by the United States and

23 Russia is fundamentally adversarial and is not a

24 suitable basis for stability in a world in which the

25 United States and the states of the former Soviet
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1 Union are seeking to normalize relations and elimi2 nate Cold War attitudes and arrangements.

3 (11) Pursuing a transition to a form of strate4 gic deterrence based increasingly on defensive capa5 bilities and strategies is in the interest of all coun6 tries seeking to preserve and enhance strategic sta7 bility.

8 (12) The deployment of a national missile de9 fense system capable of defending the United States

10 against limited ballistic missile attacks would (A)

11 strengthen deterrence at the levels of forces agreed

12 to by the United States and Russia under the

13 START I Treaty, and (B) further strengthen deter14 rence if reductions below START I levels are imple15 mented in the future.

16 (13) Article XIII of the ABM Treaty envisions

17 ‘‘possible changes in the strategic situation which

18 have a bearing on the provisions of this treaty’’.

19 (14) Articles XIII and XIV of the treaty estab20 lish means for the parties to amend the treaty, and

21 the parties have in the past used those means to

22 amend the treaty.

23 (15) Article XV of the treaty establishes the

24 means for a party to withdraw from the treaty, upon

25 six months notice ‘‘if it decides that extraordinary
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1 events related to the subject matter of this treaty

2 have jeopardized its supreme interests’’.

3 (16) Previous discussions between the United

4 States and Russia, based on Russian President

5 Yeltsin’s proposal for a Global Protection System,

6 envisioned an agreement to amend the ABM Treaty

7 to allow (among other measures) deployment of as

8 many as four ground-based interceptor sites in addi9 tion to the one site permitted under the ABM Trea10 ty and unrestricted exploitation of sensors based

11 within the atmosphere and in space.

12 SEC. 3. NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE POLICY.

13 (a) It is the policy of the United States to deploy by

14 the end of 2003 a National Missile Defense system that—

15 (1) is capable of providing a highly-effective de16 fense of the territory of the United States against

17 limited, unauthorized, or accidental ballistic missile

18 attacks; and

19 (2) will be augmented over time to provide a

20 layered defense against larger and more sophisti21 cated ballistic missile threats as they emerge.

22 (b) It is the policy of the United States to seek a

23 cooperative transition to a regime that does not feature

24 an offense-only form of deterrence as the basis for strate25 gic stability.
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1 SEC. 4. NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM ARCHITEC2 TURE.

3 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SYS4 TEM.—To implement the policy established in section

5 3(a), the Secretary of Defense shall develop for deploy6 ment an affordable and operationally effective National

7 Missile Defense (NMD) system which shall achieve an ini8 tial operational capability (IOC) by the end of 2003.

9 (b) ELEMENTS OF THE NMD SYSTEM.—The system

10 to be developed for deployment shall include the following

11 elements:

12 (1) An interceptor system that optimizes defen13 sive coverage of the continental United States, Alas14 ka, and Hawaii against limited, accidental, or unau15 thorized ballistic missile attacks and includes one or

16 a combination of the following:

17 (A) Ground-based interceptors.

18 (B) Sea-based interceptors.

19 (C) Space-based kinetic energy intercep20 tors.

21 (D) Space-based directed energy systems.

22 (2) Fixed ground-based radars.

23 (3) Space-based sensors, including the Space

24 and Missile Tracking System.

25 (4) Battle management, command, control, and

communications (BM/C3 26 ).
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1 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE

2 SYSTEM.

3 The Secretary of Defense shall—

4 (1) upon the enactment of this Act, promptly

5 initiate required preparatory and planning actions

6 that are necessary so as to be capable of meeting the

7 initial operational capability (IOC) date specified in

8 section 4(a);

9 (2) plan to conduct by the end of 1998 an inte10 grated systems test which uses elements (including

BM/C3 11 elements) that are representative of, and

12 traceable to, the national missile defense system ar13 chitecture specified in section 4(b);

14 (3) prescribe and use streamlined acquisition

15 policies and procedures to reduce the cost and in16 crease the efficiency of developing the system speci17 fied in section 4(a); and

18 (4) develop an affordable national missile de19 fense follow-on program that—

20 (A) leverages off of the national missile de21 fense system specified in section 4(a), and

22 (B) augments that system, as the threat

23 changes, to provide for a layered defense.
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1 SEC. 6. REPORT ON PLAN FOR NATIONAL MISSILE DE2 FENSE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOY3 MENT.

4 Not later than March 15, 1997, the Secretary of De5 fense shall submit to Congress a report on the Secretary’s

6 plan for development and deployment of a national missile

7 defense system pursuant to this Act. The report shall in8 clude the following matters:

9 (1) The Secretary’s plan for carrying out this

10 Act, including—

11 (A) a detailed description of the system ar12 chitecture selected for development under sec13 tion 4(b); and

14 (B) a discussion of the justification for the

15 selection of that particular architecture.

16 (2) The Secretary’s estimate of the amount of

17 appropriations required for research, development,

18 test, evaluation, and for procurement, for each of

19 fiscal years 1997 through 2003 in order to achieve

20 the initial operational capability date specified in

21 section 4(a).

22 (3) A cost and operational effectiveness analysis

23 of follow-on options to improve the effectiveness of

24 such system.

25 (4) A determination of the point at which any

26 activity that is required to be carried out under this
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1 Act would conflict with the terms of the ABM Trea2 ty, together with a description of any such activity,

3 the legal basis for the Secretary’s determination, and

4 an estimate of the time at which such point would

5 be reached in order to meet the initial operational

6 capability date specified in section 4(a).

7 SEC. 7. POLICY REGARDING THE ABM TREATY.

8 (a) ABM TREATY NEGOTIATIONS.—In light of the

9 findings in section 2 and the policy established in section

10 3, Congress urges the President to pursue high-level dis11 cussions with the Russian Federation to achieve an agree12 ment to amend the ABM Treaty to allow deployment of

13 the national missile defense system being developed for de14 ployment under section 4.

15 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR SENATE ADVICE AND CON16 SENT.—If an agreement described in subsection (a) is

17 achieved in discussions described in that subsection, the

18 President shall present that agreement to the Senate for

19 its advice and consent. No funds appropriated or otherwise

20 available for any fiscal year may be obligated or expended

21 to implement such an amendment to the ABM Treaty un22 less the amendment is made in the same manner as the

23 manner by which a treaty is made.

24 (c) ACTION UPON FAILURE TO ACHIEVE NEGO25 TIATED CHANGES WITHIN ONE YEAR.—If an agreement
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1 described in subsection (a) is not achieved in discussions

2 described in that subsection within one year after the date

3 of the enactment of this Act, the President and Congress,

4 in consultation with each other, shall consider exercising

5 the option of withdrawing the United States from the

6 ABM Treaty in accordance with the provisions of Article

7 XV of that treaty.

8 SEC. 8. ABM TREATY DEFINED.

9 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘ABM Treaty’’

10 means the Treaty Between the United States of America

11 and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limita12 tion of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, and signed at Mos13 cow on May 26, 1972, and includes the Protocols to that

14 Treaty, signed at Moscow on July 3, 1974.

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