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though the dangers are now different and less apparent than in the Cold W
So as
we scale down our military we must also keep up our
guard.
.ETX
CLINTON-08/13/92
FOREIGN POLICY
.STX
PAGE #9
United States military strength will remain a force for stability and justice as the old order continues to collapse and a new one emerges. We can never forget this essential fact; power is the basis for successful diplomacy, and military power has always been fundamental in international relationships. So a president must provide the American people with a clear explanation of our enduring security interest and a new estimate of the threats we are likely to face in the post-Cold War era. So far, in my judgment, this administration has failed to supply that rationale, failed to give a clear strategy for a new national security, and that is fueling isolationism here at home from both the left and the right.
Today there are two wrong-headed and dangerous approaches to adjusting our defenses for this new era. One is the administration's. It talks of strategic change but basically simply shrinks the existing Cold War force structure. Continuation of this policy runs the risk of weakening the two elements that were absolutely critical to our victory in the Gulf; our superbly trained and motivated personnel and our world class weapons technology. At the same time there are those, some in my party, who see defense cuts as largely a piggy-bank to fund domestic wish lists, with our defense structures and missions as a mere afterthought rather than a starting premise. This policy would also weaken our technological superiority and the quality and morale of our superb personnel.
Leadership demands more than a Cold War minus or a domestic spending plus approach to the defense of this nation. A president must identify the new threats to our security, define military missions to meet those threats, adapt the forces to carry out the missions and back up the forces with the training, technology and intelligence necessary to prevail. We must start with a fresh assessment of the new dangers that could threaten our interests and potentially require the use of force, including the risk of new threats from the former Soviet republics should democracy fail, especially before all the nuclear weapons have been dismantled. spread of weapons of mass destruction, historic tensions in various regions, especially the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East, and the related risks of terrorist attacks and the growing intensity of ethnic, fundamentalist and separatist violence as we have seen in Yugoslavia and elsewhere that can spill across borders and engulf other nations.
The
The mission of containing an expansionist Soviet Union bas disappeared but enduring missions remain. To maintain nuclear deterrence, even as we reduce nuclear arsenals; to reassure our friends and allies and discourage potential adversaries; to pursue our interests when possible through strengthened institutions of
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