I have been frustrated by the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars on weapons that were clearly destabilizing, redundant or unnecessary for any justifiable strategic mission. Twenty years of service on the committee, most recently as chair of the vital Research and Development Subcommittee, two years on the Intelligence Committee, membership in the North Atlantic Assembly and its military committee have all brought me to this historic moment prepared to enter the debate at a new level, with new responsibilities. The Cold War is over. The new administration states its commitment to a more sensible military budget and recognizes the drain that military spending has placed on our economy. The much-ballyhooed new world order trumpeted by former President Bush is a concept that is now up for grabs.
Opportunities abound for a change in U.S. priorities and policy.
I appreciate the chance to have a more significant impact on the current debate. And I am privileged to carry the vision of my community, and of progressives throughout our nation, into the contest to determine U.S. national security policy. In reshaping that policy, it is important that we understand what happened during the Cold War to know how we can change U.S. policy in its wake. The Cold War involved a massive confrontation between the United States and its alliance structure, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other. Depending on whose estimates one believes, upward of 70 percent of our national defense resources were dedicated to meeting the perceived threats posed by the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.