II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2748

To prohibit the rescheduling or forgiveness of any outstanding bilateral debt

owed to the United States by the Government of the Russian Federation

until the President certifies to the Congress that the Government of

the Russian Federation has ceased all its operations at, removed all

personnel from, and permanently closed the intelligence facility at

Lourdes, Cuba.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 16, 2000

Mr. MACK (for himself and Mr. TORRICELLI) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To prohibit the rescheduling or forgiveness of any outstanding bilateral debt owed to the United States by

the Government of the Russian Federation until the

President certifies to the Congress that the Government

of the Russian Federation has ceased all its operations

at, removed all personnel from, and permanently closed

the intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Russian-American

3 Trust and Cooperation Act of 2000’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) The Government of the Russian Federation

7 maintains an agreement with the Government of

8 Cuba which allows Russia to operate an intelligence

9 facility at Lourdes, Cuba.

10 (2) The Secretary of Defense has formally ex11 pressed concerns to the Congress regarding the espi12 onage complex at Lourdes, Cuba, and its use as a

13 base for intelligence activities directed against the

14 United States.

15 (3) The Secretary of Defense, referring to a

16 1998 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, has

17 reported that the Russian Federation leases the

18 Lourdes facility for an estimated $100,000,000 to

19 $300,000,000 a year.

20 (4) It has been reported that the Lourdes facil21 ity is the largest such complex operated by the Rus22 sian Federation and its intelligence service outside

23 the region of the former Soviet Union.

24 (5) The Lourdes facility is reported to cover a

25 28 square-mile area with over 1,500 Russian engi-
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1 neers, technicians, and military personnel working at

2 the base.

3 (6) Experts familiar with the Lourdes facility

4 have reportedly confirmed that the base has multiple

5 groups of tracking dishes and its own satellite sys6 tem, with some groups used to intercept telephone

7 calls, faxes, and computer communications, in gen8 eral, and with other groups used to cover targeted

9 telephones and devices.

10 (7) News sources have reported that the prede11 cessor regime to the Government of the Russian

12 Federation had obtained sensitive information about

13 United States military operations during Operation

14 Desert Storm through the Lourdes facility.

15 (8) Academic studies assessing the threat the

16 Lourdes espionage station poses to the United

17 States cite official United States sources affirming

18 that the Lourdes facility is being used to collect per19 sonal information about United States citizens in the

20 private and government sectors, and offers the

21 means to engage in cyberwarfare against the United

22 States.

23 (9) It has been reported that the operational

24 significance of the Lourdes facility has grown dra25 matically since February 7, 1996, when then Rus-
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1 sian President, Boris Yeltsin, issued an order de2 manding that the Russian intelligence community in3 crease its gathering of United States and other

4 Western economic and trade secrets.

5 (10) It has been reported that the Government

6 of the Russian Federation is estimated to have spent

7 in excess of $3,000,000,000 in the operation and

8 modernization of the Lourdes facility.

9 (11) Former United States Government offi10 cials have been quoted confirming reports about the

11 Russian Federation’s expansion and upgrade of the

12 Lourdes facility.

13 (12) It was reported in December 1999 that a

14 high-ranking Russian military delegation headed by

15 Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General

16 Valentin Korabelnikov visited Cuba to discuss the

17 continuing Russian operation of the Lourdes facility.

18 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BILATERAL DEBT RESCHEDULING

19 AND FORGIVENESS FOR THE RUSSIAN FED20 ERATION.

21 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi22 sion of law, the President—

23 (1) shall not reschedule or forgive any out24 standing bilateral debt owed to the United States by

25 the Government of the Russian Federation, and
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1 (2) shall instruct the United States representa2 tive to the Paris Club of official creditors to use the

3 voice and vote of the United States to oppose re4 scheduling or forgiveness of any outstanding bilat5 eral debt owed by the Government of the Russian

6 Federation,

7 until the President certifies to the Congress that the Gov8 ernment of the Russian Federation has ceased all its oper9 ations at, removed all personnel from, and permanently

10 closed the intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.

11 (b) WAIVER.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may waive

13 the application of subsection (a)(1) if, not less than

14 10 days before the waiver is to take effect, the

15 President determines and certifies in writing to the

16 Committee on International Relations of the House

17 of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign

18 Relations of the Senate that such waiver is nec19 essary to the national interests of the United States.

20 (2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—If the Presi21 dent waives the application of subsection (a)(1) pur22 suant to paragraph (1), the President shall include

23 in the written certification under paragraph (1) a

24 detailed description of the facts that support the de-
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1 termination to waive the application of subsection

2 (a)(1).

3 (3) SUBMISSION IN CLASSIFIED FORM.—If the

4 President considers it appropriate, the written cer5 tification under paragraph (1), or appropriate parts

6 thereof, may be submitted in classified form.

7 (c) PERIODIC REPORTS.—The President shall, every

8 180 days after the transmission of the written certification

9 under subsection (b)(1), prepare and transmit to the Com10 mittee on International Relations of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of

12 the Senate a report that contains a description of the ex13 tent to which the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and

14 (B) of subsection (b)(1) are being met.

15 SEC. 4. REPORT ON THE CLOSING OF THE INTELLIGENCE

16 FACILITY AT LOURDES, CUBA.

17 Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, and every 120 days thereafter until the

19 President makes a certification under section 3, the Presi20 dent shall submit to the Committee on International Rela21 tions and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

22 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on

23 Foreign Relations and the Select Committee on Intel24 ligence of the Senate a report (with a classified annex)

25 detailing—
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1 (1) the actions taken by the Government of the

2 Russian Federation to terminate its presence and

3 activities at the intelligence facility at Lourdes,

4 Cuba; and

5 (2) the efforts by each appropriate Federal de6 partment or agency to verify the actions described in

7 paragraph (1).

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