LETTER FROM DAVID L. BOREN TO WILLIAM H. WEBSTER

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CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6
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RIPPUB
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S
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7
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December 27, 2016
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January 30, 2013
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7
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Publication Date: 
July 26, 1988
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MEMO
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25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 R Next 4 Page(s) In Document Denied Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 DAVID L BOREN. OKLAHOMA, CHAIRMAN WILLIAM S. COHEN, MAINE. VICE CHAIRMAN LLOYD BENTSEN. TEXAS WILLIAM V. ROTH. JR., DELAWARE SAM NUNN. GEORGIA ORRIN HATCH. UTAH ERNEST F HOLLINGS. SOUTH CAROUNA FRANK MURKOWSKI, ALASKA BILL BRADLEY, NEW JERSEY ARLEN SPECTER. PENNSYLVANIA ALAN CRANSTON. CALIFORNIA CHIC HECHT, NEVADA DENNIS DoCONCINI. ARIZONA JOHN WARNER. VIRGINIA HOWARD M. METZENSAUM, OHIO ROBERT C. BYRD. WEST VIRGINIA. EX OFFICIO ROBERT DOLE. KANSAS, EX OFFICIO SVEN E HOLMES. STAFF DIRECTOR AND GENERAL COUNSEL JAMES H. DYKSTRA. MINORITY STAFF DIRECTOR KATHLEEN P. MeGHEE. CHIEF CLERK 40/0"=.7.3:5;i-- Unita' tatts Ernate SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELUGENCE WASHINGTON, DC 205104475 July 1, 1988 The Honorable William H. Webster Director of Central Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency Washington, D.C. Dear Judge Webster: Enclosed please find a copy of a letter from Senator William Proxmire regarding information with respect to world arms transfers. It would be my hope that we could discuss this matter at our next scheduled meeting. Thank you for your consideration. Sin rely, .404kodftot David L. Boren Chairman L Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 ? WILLIAM PRCiXMIRE ? WISCONSIN ibited *atm *nate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 June 13, 1988 The Honorable David Boren, Chairman Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Louis Stokes, Chairman House Permanent Select Commmittee on Intelligence Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear David and Lou: ? On June 9, I gave a speech on the Senate floor on the subject of arms transfers to developing nations. The idea for the speech grew out of a Memorial Day column in the New York Times by James Reston in which he cited a report that stated that the world was engaged in 25 wars in 1987. Most of these conflicts took place in underdeveloped parts of the world. In preparation for that speech I sought information detailing the value of the arms exported to these nations at war and the countries that were the main suppliers of these arms. I consulted the annual Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) publication on this issue, titled World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers 1987, but I was unable to find this information. In fact, the most detailed breakdown of nation-to-nation arms transfers was a table that cumulatively covered the period 1982- 1986, but it did not even include all the arms exporting nations. I contacted ACDA to get some answers but much to my surprise, I was told that this type of detailed information was classified and unavailable to the public. Consequently, I was forced to use aggregate figures that detailed the value of the arms transfers from the communist and non-communist world to various regions of the world for the ten-year period of 1977-1986. I question the decision to keep classified this important information. I propose that the U.S. declassify a list of all the world's arms exports to countries at war. I believe that this would provide the basis for negotiations with the Soviets on limiting or eliminating the export of arms to nations at war. It also would provide a year-by-year public record of the major arms exporting and importing nations, and the types of arms being transfered. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-A Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 Page 2 I am interested in the reasons that the U.S. government cites for keeping this detailed arms transfer information classified. I would like to see ACDA publish a yearly report citing the total arms exports of all nations, the recipient nations of these shipments, and the types of weapons transferred. As Chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, could you inquire of the administration the justification for classifying this detailed information on global arms transfers and relay to me their response? With best wishes, Sincera1 Proxmire, . .S. WP:kl Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 ? ? Senate THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1988 (Legislative day of Wednesday, June 8. 19881 The Senate met at 9:30 arn., on the expiration of the recess, and was called to order by the Honorable Joni, BREAUX. a Senator from the State of Louisiana. PRAYER The Chaplain, the Reverend Rich- ard C. Halverson. DD., offered the fol- lowing Prayer: Let us pray: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord ? ? It?Psalm 33:12. Eternal God, just and holy in all Thy ways. thank You that our Pound- ing Fathers took seriously the words of the psalmist?that nation is blessed whose God is the Lord. The profes- sional athlete calls it fundamentals-- the sociologist calls it roots?but by whatever name it is indispensable to self-understanding, self-worth and dig- nity, self-realization and progress. Per- sonally and collectively. Our Founding Fathers debated long and hard as to the relation between church and state?but whatever their views, they believed earnestly that virtue and faith in God were indissoluble. They crafted our political system in the con- viction that a Creator God endowed human rights, which are inalienable? and to secure which is the mandate of a government which receives fts power from the consent of the governed. Help us. Righteous Father, to see that at the heart of present frustration with imponderable social evil is discon- nection from our spiritual/moral roots?that to return to these funda- mentals which guided and nurtured our unprecedented blessing as a nation Is essential to our preservation. Hear us and awaken us, 0 Lord, our God. Amen. APPOINTMENT OF ACTING PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will please read a communication to the Senate from the President pro tempore (Mr. STernttsl. The legislative clerk read the follow- ing letter: U.S. SCUTT. PRESLIENT PRO TEM:PORI, Washington, DC June 9,2938. To the Senate: Under the provisions of rule I. section 3. of the Standing Rules of the Ser.ate. hereby appoint the Honorable JCILII Sentra a Senator from the State of Louisi- ana, to perform the duties of the Chair. Joss C. Simons. President pro tempore. Mr. BREAUX thereupon assumed the chair as Acting President pro tern- pore. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- pore. Under the standing order, the majority leader is recognized. Mr. BYRD. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that my time be reserved until later. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern- pore. Without objection, it is so or- dered. RECOGNITION OF THE REPUBLICAN LEADER The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- pore. Under the standing order the Republican leader is now recognized. Mr. DOLE. I make the same request. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern- pore. Without objection, it is so or- dered. MORNING BUSINESS The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern- pore. Under the previous order there will now be a period of morning busi- ness not to extend beyond the hour of 10 a.m. with Senators permitted to speak therein for not to exceed 5 min- utes each. The Chair recognizes the Senator fro isconsin, Mr. Peoxarrez. UR MOST DISGRAt.r ruL FED- ERAL WASTE: ARMS TO DEVEL- OPING COUNTRIES Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, re- cently, senior New York Times colum- nist James Reston observed a chilling fact. On last Memorial Day, when many of us were speaking in our home States about the blessings of peace, much of the world was engaged in deadly and heartbreaking wars. How many wars were going on last year? Answer: 25. That is the report of a Washington research institute called World Priorities. Reston reports that Ruth Leger Sivard, who signed the resort asserts that more wars were fought in 1987 than in any previous year on record. Of course, practically all of these 25 wars are still going on. Already. World Priorities estimates that 3 million people-75 percent of them civilians?have died in these wars. It also estimates that in all the wars since the end of World War II in 1945. the death total exceeds 17 mil- lion. This wholesale and largely senseless killing has been going on In Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The location Of these wars tells us something. North America has been spared this bloodshed. So has Europe. The killing, the tratnna, the misery of war has been entirely imposed on the people of-the underdeveloped world. But the efficient, deadly weapons to fight many of these wars came from the United States and the Soviet -Union. from France and Poland. from West Germany and Czechoslovakia. Much of the cost of these weapons was extracted from the already impover- ished developing countries and all of the profits from fabricating these weapons of death went to developed countries like the United States and the Soviet Union. The huge war casualties measure only a part of the misery imposed on these countries. People in these devel- oping countries are desperate for cap- 'tat They suffer greedy Inadequate housing. Many are literally starving. Most are able to afford only the most nulimentary kind of health care. For them, war has been especially cruel. War has taken from these people much of the pathetically limited re- sources they so urgently need to scrape a bare living from the soil. War' has brought widespread burning of their homes. It has brought the killing of their livestock. War has directed the energies of their youngest and strongest manpower from constructive work to killing equally poor and miser- able neighbors. So what can we do about this gro- tesque situation? Reston proposes as a starter that the major nations that dominate world communications pub- lish an annual tally of those who have been killed in war in the preceding year. This is a wise beginning. I pro- pose that we go further. I propose that the United States declassify a list of all the world's arms exports to countries at war. We should report this along with a record of the number of human beings killed in each s ar the preceding year. ? This -bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S7'59 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 S 7460 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE On the basis of this kind of data. the United States would provide the basis for public and congressional as well as administration support for negotia- tions with the Soviet Union and other major arms exporters to stop export of arms on all sides. We should strive for a mutally agreed elimination or limita- tion on arms exports to countries at war. Obviously, much of our export business is based on the fear or suspi- cion that the warring side we oppose in Central America or Africa is receiv- ing heavy arms shipments from the Soviet Union. Similarly, much of the Soviet shipment of arms to warring nations is based on a reciprocal fear that if they do not get there first. the United States or other NATO coun- tries vrill. Just possibly, with the new sensitivity in the Soviet Union to the public advantage in promoting peace, an intense campaign by this country could help remove Soviet weapons from Cuba ? and Nicaragua as we remove American weapons from the Contra& In Angola, we could press for the evacuation of the 35,000 Cuban troops now serving there and the mas- sive Soviet weaponry in return for our ending the arming of the Angolan rebel Savimbi. Mr. President, the cost of the lethal weapons that have poured into devel- oping countries to provide the instru- ments of death is appalling. In the 10 years from 1977 thru 1988. according to data provided to me by the State Department. the United States and other non-Communist countries have shipped $140.1 billion in Weapons into developing countries! The' Soviet Union and its Communist allies have pumped in even more, a grim total of $167.5 billion in weapons of war. The non-Communist world has pro- vided in this 10-year period $13.3 bil- lion in weapons of war to Latin Amer- ica. with the United States accounting for a surprisingly small percentage of that amount-32.3 billion. Both West Germany and Prance provided more than the United States in the 10 years from 1977 through 1988. The Commu- nist nations moved even more weapons Into Latin America than the free world?providing $14.9 billion worth, with nearly 90 percent of that. or $13.2 billion, coming from the Soviet Union. In East Asia. the impoverished but warring developing countries received $23 billion of war materials from the non-Communist countries, including more than two-thirds of that sum from the United States?a total of $18.8 billion. The Communist coun- tries shipped $19.3 billion of wcapons and ammunition into developing coun- tries of East Asia with more than 90 percent. $18.4 billion, coming from the Soviet Union. In Africa. the Ccmmunist countries really swamped the impoverished war- ring nations with $44.5 billion of mili- tary weapons, a total of $37.4 billion. or 80 percent, came from the Soviet Union. while the free world provided far less?$17.3 billion of military weap- ons. A total of $2.2 billion or less than 15 percent came from the United States. In that terrible cauldron of death and violence?the Middle. East?the free world poured almost $77 billion of military weapons, of which $28.4 bil- lion, or about one-third, came from the United States. The Communist world shipped $87.9 billion of military weapons into the violent Middle East with about 75 percent or $51.2 billion coming from the Soviet Union. Mr. President, altogether, this is an unsurpassed monument to mankind's revolting stupidity. In the name of communism and the brotherhood of the world's workers, the Communist countries, led by the Soviet Union, are depressing the living standards of their own countries by diverting their limited resources to the 25 or so wars that bedevil the poorest pecple on Earth. And, in the name of freedom, we are nearly matching this disgrace- ful performance during a fiscal year crisis that cries out for us to cut all spending, and certainly, to cut spend- ing to 'till more impoverished people. Does anyone really believe that this flood of deadly weapons will truly ad- vance either brotherhood or freedom? Mr. President. I ask unanimous con- sent that the column to which I re- ferred by James Reston from the New York Times be printed at this point in the RECORD. There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: 25 WARS Au &rm. Genic os (By James Reston) Vissfintcrorr.?On -Memorial Day, or. as the British call it, Remembrance Day, there were many solemn tributes to the dead of past wars. But what we forgot to remember Is that in the real world, below the summit meeting, 25 wars are still going on. That's not a typographical error 25 is the number, as tabulated by a Washington re- search institute called World Priorities. Ruth Leger Ward, who signed the study, concedes the difficulty of getting an accu- rate casualty toll in these wars, but she esti- mates that they have already taken the lives of three million people, four-fifths of them civilians. She also noted the following: "The United States and the Soviet Union together spend about $1.5 billion a day on military de- f ense. . . . The developing countries spend almost four times as much on arms as on health care of their people. Yet 20 percent of their children die before their fifth birth- day." She went on: "To protect Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf costs the United States Navy an extra $365 million a year above normal operating coats." More wars, she said, were fought in 1987 than in any previcus year on record. Her catalogue of present wars follows: Latin America?Colombia. about 1.000 deaths a year since 1958; El Salvador. 65.000 deaths since 1979; Guatemala. 138,000 since 1966: Nicaragua. 30,000 since 1961, and Peru. 10.000 since 1981. The Middle East?Iran-Iraq. 377,000 lives In eight years: Lebanon. 52,000 since 1982. (The study docs not inctude countries where June 9, 19SS uprisings have taken fewer than 1.000 lives a year. 113 in Israel.) Africa?Angola and Namibia. 213.000 since 1975. In addition, the Angolan war is linked to a smaller conflict in which 5.000 people have been killed in the south West Africa People's Organization fight to expel South African troops from Namiba: Chad. 7000 since 1980; Ethiopia. 500.000 by sar and re- lated famine since 1980; Western Sahara. 10.000 since 1975: Mozambique. 400.000 since 1981 (plus 850,000 more refugees). Also in Africa?South Africa. 4.000 since 1985: the Sudan, 10.000 since 1984, and Uganda. 102,000 since 1981. Asia?Afghanistan, 14.000 So % let troops and 85000 Afghans since 1979; Burma. 2.000 since 1983; separatist violence in India. 3,000 since 1984: Indonesia (there are no reliable estimates in the fighting over East Timor): Cambodia. 24.000 since 1979; Laos and Viet- nam. 30,000 since 1979; the Philippines. 60.000 since 1970. and Sri Lanka, 6.000 since 1984. This study estimates that over all, since the end of World War II in 1945, the death total in all wars, rebellions and uprisings of various sorts have taken the lives of 17 mil- lion people, about half the deaths of the last said conflict. The Economist of London, commenting on this study, notes that, outside the Persian Gulf war, all wars between nations have dis- appeared. The magazine also notes progress In the present evacuation of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the United States- Soviet efforts to reduce atomic weapons. The World Priorities study said: "Present nuclear arsenals, scattered worldwide, alone represent over 26,000 times the explosive force of all armaments used in World War II." But there are other- problems. Many of the present wars are fueled by the Unitet States. the Soviet Union and other industri- al nations, and the technology to produre nuclear weapons continues to spread. Also, the news of the present wars is limit ed by indifference, censorship, as in the Iraq-Iran conflict, and unwillingness on the part of the major governments to share what information they have on these wart with the public. To a large extent, therefore, these are "the forgotten wars." neglected even Jr: those countries that preach the preciou: value of every human life. Much was said at the Reagan-Gorbachee summit conference in Moscow about avoid ing future nuclear wars, but little If any thing about trying to end present wars fought with everything from clubs anc stones to poison gas. Or even about reducint the flow of military weapons to the combat ants. At least, the major nations that dominate the communications of the world could pub lish an annual tally of the world's dead. As It is now, if a war is not on televisior It's not happening. Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, suggest the absence of a quorum ar.c yield the floor. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem pore. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded tt call the roll. Mr. REID. Mr. President. I as: unanimous consent that the order fc the quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro te.rr. pore. Without objection, it is so c: dered. The Chair recognizes the Senatc from Nevada. Senator REID. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 25X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6 R Next 8 Page(s) In Document Denied Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/30: CIA-RDP90G01353R000600070007-6