IB
Union Calendar No. 374
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4118
[Report No. 106–668]
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
MARCH 29, 2000
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BURTON
of Indiana, Mr. HYDE, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey,
Mr. CHABOT, Mr. BURR of North Carolina, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. BART-
LETT of Maryland, and Mr. JONES of North Carolina) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Rela-
tions
JUNE 12, 2000
Additional sponsors: Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr.
GOODLING, Mr. GILLMOR, and Mr. MENENDEZ
JUNE 12, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 29, 2000]
A BILL
To prohibit the rescheduling or forgiveness of any out-
standing 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Russian-American Trust
and Cooperation Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Government of the Russian Federation
maintains an agreement with the Government of
Cuba which allows Russia to operate an intelligence
facility at Lourdes, Cuba.
(2) The Secretary of Defense has formally ex-
pressed concerns to the Congress regarding the espio-
nage complex at Lourdes, Cuba, and its use as a base
for intelligence activities directed against the United
States.
(3) The Secretary of Defense, referring to a 1998
Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, has reported
that the Russian Federation leases the Lourdes facil-
ity for an estimated $100,000,000 to $300,000,000 a
year.
(4) It has been reported that the Lourdes facility
is the largest such complex operated by the Russian
Federation and its intelligence service outside the re-
gion of the former Soviet Union.
(5) The Lourdes facility is reported to cover a 28
square-mile area with over 1,500 Russian engineers,
technicians, and military personnel working at the
base.
(6) Experts familiar with the Lourdes facility
have reportedly confirmed that the base has multiple
groups of tracking dishes and its own satellite system,
with some groups used to intercept telephone calls,
faxes, and computer communications, in general, and
with other groups used to cover targeted telephones
and devices.
(7) News sources have reported that the prede-
cessor regime to the Government of the Russian Fed-
eration had obtained sensitive information about
United States military operations during Operation
Desert Storm through the Lourdes facility.
(8) Academic studies assessing the threat the
Lourdes espionage station poses to the United States
cite official United States sources affirming that the
Lourdes facility is being used to collect personal in-
formation about United States citizens in the private
and government sectors, and offers the means to en-
gage in cyberwarfare against the United States.
(9) It has been reported that the operational sig-
nificance of the Lourdes facility has grown dramati-
cally since February 7, 1996, when then Russian
President, Boris Yeltsin, issued an order demanding
that the Russian intelligence community increase its
gathering of United States and other Western eco-
nomic and trade secrets.
(10) It has been reported that the Government of
the Russian Federation is estimated to have spent in
excess of $3,000,000,000 in the operation and mod-
ernization of the Lourdes facility.
(11) Former United States Government officials
have been quoted confirming reports about the Rus-
sian Federation’s expansion and upgrade of the
Lourdes facility.
(12) It was reported in December 1999 that a
high-ranking Russian military delegation headed by
Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General
Valentin Korabelnikov visited Cuba to discuss the
continuing Russian operation of the Lourdes facility.