Jim Inhofe: “I thank the Chair. And he said: You are absolutely right. So this is the Director of Central Intelligence. Now it comes…”

“I thank the Chair. And he said: You are absolutely right. So this is the Director of Central Intelligence. Now it comes in three forms. First of all, our conventional capabilities are one-half of what they were in terms of force strength today. And the President pro tempore knows this in terms of the number of Army divisions, tactical air wings, ships dropping from 600 down to 300. No. 2, we have had all these deployments that have taken these rare assets and put them in the position where they are no longer usable. No. 3--this is what I am getting to right now--we were on schedule to have deployed a limited national missile defense system by fiscal year 1998. We would have done that except for the vetoes of President Clinton. I carry with me his veto message of the 1993 Defense authorization bill when, I say to Senator Stevens, he said: I will continue to veto any bill that has money in it for a national missile defense system because the threat isn't there. What people do not understand is, when you take down our military, you are taking down our intelligence at the same time because the intelligence budget is tied to the Defense budget. So our quality of intelligence has deteriorated to the extent that in 1998, on August 24, when I had been asking for a response to a question--how many years will it be when North Korea has a multiple-stage rocket capability?-- the answer came in a letter from General Shelton. It was dated August 24, 1998.…”