I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 160

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for himself, Mr. GOSS, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. DELAY, Mr.

SMITH of New Jersey, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 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 2001’’.

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) Former United States National Security

16 Agency officials have been quoted describing the

17 Lourdes facility as an ‘‘intelligence cornucopia’’

18 which lies within the ‘‘footprint’’ of every United

19 States communications satellite.

20 (9) Public reports relating to the Lourdes facil21 ity state that Defense Intelligence Agency officials

22 testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intel23 ligence in 1996 that ‘‘while commercial intelligence

24 [gathered at the facility] is the top priority, it is not

25 the only one . . . Personal information about U.S.
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1 citizens in private and government sectors is also

2 snatched from the airwaves and used by Russian in3 telligence to identify promising recruits in these sec4 tors.’’.

5 (10) It has been reported that the operational

6 significance of the Lourdes facility has grown dra7 matically since February 7, 1996, when then Rus8 sian President, Boris Yeltsin, issued an order de9 manding that the Russian intelligence community in10 crease its gathering of United States and other

11 Western economic and trade secrets.

12 (11) It has been reported that the Government

13 of the Russian Federation is estimated to have spent

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

15 modernization of the Lourdes facility.

16 (12) Colonel General Mikhail Kolenik, Russia’s

17 current chief of staff, has affirmed during his visits

18 to the Lourdes facility that this espionage base re19 mains critical to the intelligence needs of the Rus20 sian Federation.

21 (13) The December 2000 visit of Russian Presi22 dent Putin to Cuba was described by United States

23 analysts as a ‘‘diplomatic offensive’’ to strengthen

24 and expand Russia’s ties with its former satellite in

25 Latin America.
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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BILATERAL DEBT RESCHEDULING

2 AND FORGIVENESS FOR THE RUSSIAN FED3 ERATION.

4 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, the President—

6 (1) shall not reschedule or forgive any out7 standing bilateral debt owed to the United States by

8 the Government of the Russian Federation, and

9 (2) shall instruct the United States representa10 tive to the Paris Club of official creditors to use the

11 voice and vote of the United States to oppose re12 scheduling or forgiveness of any outstanding bilat13 eral debt owed by the Government of the Russian

14 Federation,

15 until the President certifies to the Congress that the Gov16 ernment of the Russian Federation has ceased all its oper17 ations at, removed all personnel from, and permanently

18 closed the intelligence facility at Lourdes, Cuba.

19 (b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica20 tion of subsection (a)(1) with respect to rescheduling of

21 outstanding bilateral debt if—

22 (1) the President determines that such waiver

23 is necessary to the national interests of the United

24 States; and

25 (2) not less than 10 days before the waiver is

26 to take effect, the President transmits to the Com-
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1 mittee on International Relations of the House of

2 Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Re3 lations of the Senate a written certification that con4 tains the determination made pursuant to paragraph

5 (1) and the reasons therefor.

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