John Kerry: “A defense bill must meet threats, real threats, not shadows or ghosts of threats disappeared. Our military leaders and…”

“A defense bill must meet threats, real threats, not shadows or ghosts of threats disappeared. Our military leaders and our intelligence services have properly identified the threats our Nation faces. They have come before us and told us what threats we face. We have ignored much of their counsel and drafted a bill addressed to the realities of yesterday and a dark view of a possible future tens of years away. This provision if enacted will take a step toward abrogating the antiballistic missile treaty, scuttling the START II Treaty, and launching us back into the arms race of the cold war. This bill includes many weapons systems designed to match a missile threat from the Soviet Union that does not exist. Due to the diligent efforts of former President Bush, President Clinton, our diplomats and Senators like Mr. Nunn and Mr. Lugar, we have been able to substantially curtail that threat, to destroy hundreds of the missiles that used to be aimed at our nations, and to divert the targeting of the others that still remain. Since 1991, the Nunn-Lugar program has helped the states of the former Soviet Union to destroy their weapons of mass destruction and reduce the threat posed by proliferation of these weapons. This program remains an example of concise policy designed to meet an identified threat and has significantly improved our national security. We cannot stress to the appropriate degree how important arms control efforts have been to our national security.”