Byron Dorgan: “first of all, I certainly respect the views of my colleague from Arizona. He and I have had these discussions before. I…”

“first of all, I certainly respect the views of my colleague from Arizona. He and I have had these discussions before. I do not come to the floor suggesting there are not a wide range of threats against our country. I recognize there must be a general who would support this program. You show me any program in the Pentagon, and I will show you four or five generals who are involved in it and whose careers are attached to it in many ways. It is why many programs continue long after they perhaps should. But with respect to this issue of the use of space, my colleague, when he began his statement, said this: The space test bed program is not solely--``not solely''--for the purpose of developing a space-based kill vehicle for missile defense. I respect that. But most people understand this space-based test bed is, in the longer term, being developed for a space-based kill vehicle and for space-based missile defense. Yes, it would have satellite capability and antisatellite capability, for that matter, which will cause some real consternation around the world, in my judgment. But I wonder what would happen if today on the floor of the Senate we were here and we read in the newspaper that the Chinese or the Russians--either--have just passed legislation embarking on a project to develop a space test bed which can be used for the purposes of ballistic missile defense or, perhaps, antisatellite operations?”