Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 872 - National Security Revitalization Act

(House)
(Spence (R) SC and 3 others)

If H.R. 872 were presented to the President in its current form, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations would recommend that the bill be vetoed.

H.R. 872 would infringe upon the constitutional authorities of the Commander in Chief and harm U.S. interests by reducing the options available to the President to respond to international crises and conflicts. If enacted, this bill would leave the United States with the unacceptable choice between acting alone or doing nothing when emergencies arise. By removing United Nations peacekeeping as an option for burdensharing, it would likely result in increased costs to the United States and more frequent requests for the deployment of American military forces overseas. In addition, H.R. 872 contains other highly objectionable provisions relating to missile defense policy, a commission on national security issues, and NATO expansion.

In particular, the provisions of H.R. 872 that the Administration opposes include those that would:

— Impermissibly limit the President's authority as Commander in Chief to determine the command arrangements of U.S. Forces participating in UN operations. These provisions infringe on the President's constitutional authority and would impose requirements that are operationally unworkable.

— Prevent the President from ordering American forces to respond to emergencies and crises in which the UN is involved until Congress has specifically authorized such action. The likely result is that the United States would act alone more often.

— Require that the United States violate its treaty obligation to the UN by deducting from our peacekeeping assessments the amounts we spend voluntarily on certain operations we have supported through a UN Security Council Resolution. These peacekeeping operations serve many vital U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. By promoting the principle that every nation has the right to determine its own peacekeeping assessments, this provision alone would destroy the UN's ability to plan, manage and sustain peace operations. Thus, it undercuts an important tool of U.S. foreign policy available to all Presidents since Harry Truman.

— Impede progress towards UN reform by imposing new and unworkable requirements upon the UN's Inspector General, who having been in office only since November 15, 1994, has had no opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of his office as presently authorized.

— Bar payments to the UN unless the Defense Department has been paid fully for reimbursable services for the prior year, even if the UN is unable to reimburse the Defense Department because H.R. 872 has destroyed UN peacekeeping's financial base.

— Establish a national policy to deploy a US-based antiballistic missile system. The Administration's program gives defenses against tactical ballistic missiles, which are the clearest threats, the highest priority. It also provides for a developmental base to deploy US-based defenses should a missile threat against the United States emerge.

— Establish an unnecessary National Security Commission, which would usurp the responsibilities of the Executive branch and duplicate national security planning efforts.

— Mandate the establishment of a program to facilitate NATO transition for certain countries in a manner unnecessarily rigid and thus inconsistent with U.S. policy on NATO membership.

— Impose onerous and burdensome paperwork requirements, thereby wasting tax dollars and reducing the efficiency of the Federal Government.