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Senate Armed Services Committee FY2004 Defence Budget Markup, May 9: Nuclear, Missile Defence and Counter-WMD-Terrorism Highlights

'Senate Armed Services Committee Completes Markup of national Defense Authorization Bill For Fiscal Year 2004', United Stares Senate Committee on Armed Services Press Release, May 9; Committee website, http://armed-services.senate.gov.

Senator John Warner, R-Virginia, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Senator Carl Levin, D-Michigan, Ranking Member, announced today that the committee has completed its markup of the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2004. The bill authorizes funding for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.

"As the Committee reports this bill to the full Senate, over 300,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, active and reserve component, and countless civilians continue to serve valiantly in the Persian Gulf region and Afghanistan to secure peace and freedom. All Americans are proud of what they have accomplished. This bill sends a strong signal of support to our men and women in uniform - from the Balkans to the Middle East to Korea and those standing watch here at home - that we appreciate their sacrifice and honor their service," said Warner.

"The committee has produced a strong, balanced bill that provides our armed forces with the means needed to meet today's challenges and makes the investments that will be needed to respond to the challenges of the 21st Century. At the same time, it continues the improvements in the compensation and quality of life for our servicemen and women and their families. Americans expect us to support our troops; this bill does that," Senator Levin said.

The Armed Services Committee has reported out a bill that contains a 3.2 percent real increase in defense spending and emphasizes the priorities of homeland defense, new capabilities to continue the transformation of the Armed Forces, and quality of life improvements for members of the Armed Forces. Warner added, "History and recent experience remind us that, no matter how well prepared we are, new threats and challenges will surely emerge and we must be ready to meet the unexpected contingencies. This bill meets the expectations of every American that the US military will have the skilled personnel and the equipment necessary to meet current and future threats." ...

Funding Levels

The committee recommends funding of $400.5 billion in budget authority for defense programs for fiscal year 2004, which is $17.9 billion above the amount appropriated by the Congress last year, and is consistent with this year's Concurrent Budget Resolution. This recommended level of funding represents a 3.2 percent increase in real terms for defense. The committee authorized $75.6 billion in procurement funding, a $1.1 billion increase above the President's budget; and $63.2 billion in funding for research, development, test and evaluation, a $1.3 billion increase over the requested level.

Markup Highlights

The committee addressed a number of defense priorities in this year's bill. Specifically, the committee: ...

• Authorized the requested amount of $9.1 billion for ballistic missile defense (BMD) research and development and procurement. ...
• Added approximately $400.0 million over the President's budget request to improve homeland defense capabilities, including: $88.4 million to field 12 additional Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams (WMD-CST), which will result in a total of 44 teams by the end of FY 04; $76.6 million for the Chemical Biological Installation/Force Protection Program, doubling the number of bases, from 15 to 30, which will be fully equipped with highly effective chemical and biological detection equipment; $147.0 million for innovative technologies to combat terrorism and defeat emerging asymmetric threats; $42.2 million for chemical and biological defense program research and development. ...
• Supported efforts to strengthen the nation's nuclear weapons research and development and test readiness programs. ...

Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities

Under the leadership of the Chairman Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee focused on supporting and enhancing the Department of Defense's efforts to combat terrorism both at home and abroad, countering the threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, accelerating transformational technologies such as unmanned systems, and improving the Armed Forces' ability to meet the emerging threats of the 21st century.

The subcommittee's main focus was on enhancing the Department's capability to combat terrorism both at home and abroad and to provide for a robust homeland defense. In these areas, the committee increased the President's budget request by over $400.0 million. Specifically, the subcommittee :

• Added $88.4 million to field an additional 12 Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams (WMD-CST) which will result in a total of 44 teams by the end of FY 04.
• Added $76.6 million to the Chemical Biological Installation/Force Protection Program, doubling the number of bases, from 15 to 30, that will be fully equipped with a highly effective suite of manual and automated chemical and biological detection equipment.
• Added $147.0 million in innovative technologies to combat terrorism and defeat emerging asymmetrical threats.
• Added $42.2 million for chemical and biological defense program research and development.
• Added $36.0 million for chemical and biological protection suits.
• Added $13.7 million for wide-area chemical and biological decontamination technology research and equipment procurement, an increase of 88 percent over the budget request.
• Added $14.0 million for research, development and procurement of portable chemical detectors, including the Joint Chemical Agent Detector and the Automatic Chemical Agent Detector Alarm, and radiation search tools. ...

In addition, the subcommittee:

• Authorized $1.7 billion for the Chemical Agents and Munitions Destruction Program.
• Authorized $1.3 billion for the Department of Energy non-proliferation programs, including the development of enhanced proliferation detection and nuclear explosion monitoring capabilities.
• Authorized $450.8 million for the Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, and provided authorization for CTR projects and activities outside the states of the Former Soviet Union, and provided the President one year authority to waive the conditions that must be met before continuing the Russian chemical demilitarization program at Shchuch'ye in FY 2004.

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

Under the leadership of the Chairman Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) and Ranking Member Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), the Strategic Forces Subcommittee reviewed Department of Defense programs for national security space capabilities, strategic forces, ballistic missile defenses, and intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as Department of Energy nuclear and environmental management programs.

To enhance national security space capabilities, the subcommittee:

• Authorized a provision to establish as the policy of the US government that the nation will have an assured space launch capability for national security payloads.
• Added $60.0 million for assured access to space.
• Approved a provision to promote the development of an effective cadre of military space professionals.
• Added $60.0 million for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellite.
• Added $80.0 million to accelerate the Global Positioning System III (GPS III) next generation navigational satellite.
• Added funds to improve space surveillance and space control and reduce space system vulnerability.

In the area of ballistic missile defense, the committee:

• Authorized the requested amount of $9.1 billion for ballistic missile defense (BMD) research and development and procurement.
• Added $100.0 million to the ground-based midcourse BMD system for an additional intercept test and other activities to reduce program risk.
• Authorized a restructuring of the PAC-3 and Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) to coordinate the research and development on these two terminal phase BMD systems. ...

The subcommittee supported efforts to strengthen the nation's nuclear weapons research, development and test readiness capabilities and program management. Specifically, the subcommittee:

• Authorized a provision to repeal the ban on research and development of low yield nuclear weapons, and stated that nothing in the repeal shall be construed as authorizing the testing, acquisition, or deployment of a low-yield nuclear weapon.
• Authorized a provision to require the Secretary of Energy to achieve and maintain the ability to conduct an underground nuclear test within 18 months, should it become necessary for the President to order such a test.
• Authorized $21.0 million for the advance concepts initiative, of which $15.0 million is directed to continue the feasibility study on the robust nuclear earth penetrator.

Consistent with the recommendations of the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, the subcommittee also sought to ensure that US nuclear forces are well coordinated with advanced conventional weapons, delivery systems, and ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capabilities. To support that goal, the committee required the Secretary of Defense to establish a global strike roadmap that would provide an integrated plan to develop and deploy global strike capabilities. ...

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