Statement at confirmation hearing - Under Secretary-designate for International Security Affairs Lynn E. Davis speech - includes related article on Central American mine clearance - Transcript

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee: I am pleased to appear before your committee as President Clinton's nominee for the position of Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs.

I am excited and honored to have been asked to be part of Secretary Christopher's foreign policy team. I am at the same time frankly sobered by the immensity of the potential task. We find ourselves in a time of tremendous change and facing many uncertainties.

The role of the Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs will require me to be familiar with the principal security policy issues, which encompass arms control and nonproliferation, export controls and security assistance, as well as regional security issues. While most of these issues call for new concepts and ways of thinking, I believe I bring to this position a good foundation in my 20 years of study and practice in the field of international security affairs.

I began my career as a professor of international relations at Barnard College and then Columbia University, and later I taught military strategy at the National War College. In the late 1970s, I directed Secretary of Defense Harold Brown's policy planning office, with responsibility, among others, for NATO's nuclear planning and arms control policies. I have served on the staffs of the NSC [National Security Council] and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. I had the opportunity to direct the research program in the mid-1980s at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. We focused on security problems throughout the world and drew our researchers from every continent.

I began by writing on the origins of the Cold War but then turned primarily to the analysis of strategic and arms control policies. I have just recently completed a project sponsored by the Ford Foundation on the future of arms control in Europe. At Rand [Corporation] for the past 2 years, as Vice President of the Army Research Division, I have been involved in helping the Army design and restructure its forces and operations to meet the demands of the post-Cold War world.

New Concepts of Security And Cooperation

Let me briefly describe the major issues which I see as forming the future international security agenda and the areas of my potential responsibility.

Secretary Christopher focused in his confirmation hearing before this committee on the guiding principles of our foreign policy, one of which was to "maintain a strong defense as we adapt our forces to new and enduring security challenges."

These new challenges will require us to define new concepts of security and cooperation for a world in which many new states and groups are seeking for themselves the goals which Americans have fostered throughout our history-freedom, self-determination, democracy, and collective security. The Clinton Administration's policies in Somalia and Bosnia provide the elements of a future approach: support for the United Nations; multilateral diplomacy to bring warring factions to a political settlement; [and] steps to provide humanitarian aid--all backed up by the possibility of applying American military forces. The goal is to resolve these conflicts while seeking to prevent their spilling over into other areas.

Arms Control

Let me now turn to arms control, where the Clinton Administration inherits the achievements of the Bush Administration in its negotiation of agreements covering strategic nuclear weapons--START I and START II [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties]; conventional forces in Europe--CFE [Conventional Armed Forces in Europe] and Open Skies; and chemical weapons--Chemical Weapons Convention.

Secretary Christopher has indicated the critical importance he places on moving forward to ratification of the START Treaties around the world, in the former Soviet Union, and also here in the United States. These treaties will reduce significantly, and equitably, the strategic nuclear weapons of both the United States and Russia. And priority will be given to the immediate goal of ensuring the control and dismantling of the nuclear weapons within the new states that emerged from the former Soviet Union. "Nunn-Lugar" funds will be directed toward programs for the dismantling of strategic nuclear weapons, the disposal of nuclear materials, the establishment of science and technology centers, and defense conversion.

Non-Proliferation

When Secretary Christopher discussed this position with me, he focused on non-proliferation and the priority which the Clinton Administration would be giving to countering the proliferation of very deadly weapons--nuclear, chemical, biological, and enhanced conventional weapons, as well as their delivery systems. He asked me to be prepared to design a comprehensive non-proliferation strategy, building on the [Nuclear] Non-Proliferation Treaty, the various regimes and mechanisms which are in place today for controlling exports, as well as the existing export control legislation.

I recall the success the United States had in the late 1960s when the Administration worked closely with this committee in achieving the Non-Proliferation Treaty. If confirmed, I would hope we might recreate that atmosphere, spirit, and approach so as to fashion a non-proliferation strategy for the 21st century.

Organizing To Meet Security Challenges

Let me now conclude by briefly describing the steps which Secretary Christopher is taking with respect to the organization of the State Department to address these international security challenges.

Secretary Christopher announced last month his plans for designating the Deputy Secretary and five Under Secretaries as his principal foreign policy advisers. Portfolios have been shifted and modified to mirror the post-Cold War missions.

Indeed, Secretary Christopher proposes to change--with the consent of Congress--the title of the Under Secretary for International Security Affairs to Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs to reflect the new arms control priorities of the Clinton Administration to deal with the heightened threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

If confirmed, my portfolio as this Under Secretary will include all aspects of non-proliferation policy, such as nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons proliferation. This also includes our policy on the control of exports that contribute to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or otherwise harm US interests such as controls on sensitive dual-use technologies. The negotiation and implementation of arms control treaties-strategic and conventional--will be part of my portfolio, as well as activities for achieving the dismantling of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union. The Bureau of Political Military Affairs will report to the Secretary of State through me. The bureau is currently restructuring its activities so as to define new concepts and approaches to international and regional security in the post-Cold War world. Security assistance and arms transfers will remain the responsibility of the Under Secretary for International Security Affairs.

Let me conclude by saying again how much I look forward to working with each of you on this committee and trust that you will provide me your counsel on what I hope to be my new responsibilities and challenges.

Mine Clearing In Central America

Statement released by the Office of the Assistant Secretary/Spokesman, Washington, DC, March 17, 1993.

We applaud the efforts of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), and the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, in bringing the first phase of a program of mine clearance in Central America to fruition. The tens of thousands of mines that remain in the wake of that region's civil conflicts continue to kill and injure innocent civilians and hamper much-needed social and economic development, particularly in rural areas.

Training of demining instructors began March 8 at the School of the Americas. Following their training, the 15 instructors on loan from Latin American militaries will travel to Nicaragua in mid-April to train Nicaraguan personnel who will do the actual demining.

The Nicaraguan demining project is a priority effort of the multilateral Partnership for Democracy and Development in Central America (PDD). The first step in a regional demining program that will eventually expand to Honduras, Costa Rica, and other countries in the region, the project's goal is to remove 60,000 mines in its initial phase.

As a member of the PDD, the US Government strongly supports regional demining efforts. We have worked closely with the OAS and the IADB in helping to create this program and look forward to its successful implementation in Nicaragua and its expansion of other countries in the region. We have contributed or pledged a total of $755,000 to a special OAS fund for demining in Central America.

COPYRIGHT 1993 U.S. Government Printing Office
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group