Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 1, 1998
U.S. idle while adversaries modernize missile attack capabilities
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Pentagon's top nuclear-war fighter said yesterday that China is engaged in a major nuclear modernization that includes development of multiple-warhead missiles capable of hitting all parts of the United States except southern Florida.
Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command in Nebraska, also said Russia has begun producing its new SS-27 strategic missile and is building new submarines armed with multiple-warhead missiles and new bomber-launched nuclear cruise missiles.
During a breakfast meeting with defense reporters, the four-star general said he is optimistic Russia's parliament will ratify the START II strategic arms reduction treaty this summer, despite uncertainty over ratification among other senior U.S. officials.
While highlighting the new strategic weapons, Gen. Habiger sought to minimize the threat they posed.
The remarks come amid the disclosure of a secret proposal by the Clinton administration to offer China increased space-launch cooperation, including access to advanced missile technology. According to a classified memorandum from the White House National Security Council that was obtained by The Washington Times, the proposal was to have been presented in China last week.
Noting the administration's active programs of economic cooperation with China, Beijing "in no way" can be considered an enemy of the United States, Gen. Habiger said yesterday.
Asked if he also believed Russia is not a threat, despite its 6,000 strategic nuclear arms, Gen. Habiger said: "I think, yes." But he added that Russia is the only power with the capacity to destroy the United States.
"The anomaly that we're faced with is that the Cold War ended, and did the loser really lose?" he said. "Did you see a demobilization? Did you see all those nuclear weapons come down in Russia? No."
After nearly 40 years of developing superpower arsenals, "we're in the eighth year of bringing this nuclear machine down, and I think we're doing a pretty good job," Gen. Habiger said.
Gen. Habiger also said the United States would use nuclear weapons against any rogue state that uses nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. "We now have a policy that's articulated that says nuclear weapons will be used in response to rogue states using weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Russia is also building a new "Borey class" of strategic submarines that will be fielded around 2005 with a new SSX-28 missile, he said. A new Russian air-launched cruise missile also is in the works, Gen. Habiger said.
Meanwhile, a new report by the Air Force's National Air Intelligence Center says Russian and Chinese strategic missiles "continue to pose a threat to the United States."
The report says that more than 25 nations now have ballistic missiles and that Iran and North Korea are building missiles with ranges of more than 1,000 miles. Land-attack cruise missiles pose a major threat to military operations and the number of states producing them will increase from two to nine in the next decade, the report said, noting that many will be exported.
"Ballistic and cruise missiles, with their relatively low operating costs, their probability of penetrating existing defense systems and their value as a symbol of national power, will continue to be the offensive weapons of choice for many nations," said the report, "Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat."
"As such, they are threats that must be carefully considered in future military planning and operations," it said.
The unclassified intelligence report, which includes photographs and charts, says the size of Russia's nuclear force will decline because of arms agreements, aging systems and economic problems but notes, "Russia probably will retain the largest force of land-based strategic missile in the world."
It added, "Russia continues to invest heavily in its strategic missile force and most of its ICBMs are still on alert, capable of being launched within minutes of receiving a launch order."
The statement appears to undermine President Clinton's frequent claim that no nuclear missiles are targeted at the United States.
Two of the new SS-27s are deployed in silo launchers, and future variants will be placed both in silos and on road-mobile launchers, the report said. Its range is about 7,000 miles.
China's new ICBMs include the DF-31, a road-mobile missile with a range of more than 4,500 miles, and a second new mobile ICBM with a range of more than 7,000 miles, the report said.
"They are modernizing their forces," Gen. Habiger said. "The Chinese do have an intercontinental nuclear capability and they have the deployment of an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach most of the United States, except for southern Florida.
"See you in Miami; that's the place to go," he quipped.
Current Chinese strategic missiles are armed with a single warhead, but "they are looking at putting in a new system with multiple independent re-entry vehicles," or MIRVs, he said.
The keel for a new ballistic missile submarine also was laid. "We expect that submarine to be operational in five or six years, with a new missile," the general said.
In a subsequent interview, Peter Pry, a strategic weapons specialist on the House National Security Committee, said, "It's a curious juxtaposition for General Habiger to say the Chinese are our friends at the same time they are deploying ICBMs directed against us and 'MIRVing' those ICBMs."
China's shift to multiple warheads is destabilizing in light of U.S.-Russian arms agreements that call for scrapping all land-based missiles with multiple warheads.
On Russian modernization, Mr. Pry said that unlike Moscow, the Pentagon has no new strategic weapons in development and is not building underground shelters and command bunkers like the facility in the Urals. "What we see in Russia is a one-sided nuclear arms race going on that we seem to be oblivious to," he said.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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