I am pleased to have this opportunity to participate in this hearing and to present a few of my views on current threats to United States National Security. I intend that this statement shall be brief, but will welcome the opportunity to respond to any of your questions. We tend to prepare ourselves to re-fight the last great war with methods and goals that worked well for us. But it is a vastly different world today than it was fifty years ago or, for that matter, even five years ago. Five years ago the hope of a new world order following victory in the Gulf gave way to dysfunctional eruptions which we are unwilling or unable to keep in firm check.
Nuclear destruction remains the greatest threat in terms of potential harm.
At one time this threat was measured by which country could inflict the greatest harm on its enemy. We assumed it would come at us, if at all, from the Soviet government. All this has changed. Today we must consider how and to what degree the governments of Russia and other F.S.U. states have adequately protected both their nuclear devices and nuclear materials from an emerging black market that could result in nuclear explosions in other areas and for other purposes with direct or indirect impact on U.S. security interests. A similar vulnerability exists from proliferation of chemical and biological weapons.