LETTER TO WILLIAM H. WEBSTER FROM DAVID L. BOREN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00005R000900090039-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 2, 2012
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: July 1, 1988
• Content Type: LETTER

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STAT
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DAVID L. BOREN, OKLAHOMA, CHAIRMAN
WILLIAM S. COHEN, MAINE. VICE CHAIRMAN
LLOYD BENTSEN. TEXAS
SAM NUNN, GEORGIA
ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, SOUTH CAROLINA
6t'L BRADLEY, NEW JERSEY
ALAN CRANSTON, CALIFORNIA
DENNIS DECONCINI, ARIZONA
HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, OHIO
WILLIAM V. BOTH, JR., DELAWARE
ORRIN HATCH, UTAH
FRANK MURKOWSKI, ALASKA
ARLEN SPECTER, PENNSYLVANIA
CHIC HECHT, NEVADA
JOHN WARNER, VIRGINIA
ROBERT C. BVRD, 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. MaGHEE, CHIEF CLERK
~nite~ tate~ mate ~~~ ~~~~
July 1, 1988
The Honorable William H. Webster
Director of Central Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C.
Dear Judge Webster:
` ~ i~ !
--.~.-l..r~~ s
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.
David L. Boren
Chairman
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r WILLIAM PROXMIRE
? WISCONSIN
~nite~ Staten senate
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
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 1y87. 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 ~,ublic record of the major arms
exporting and importing nations, and the types of arms being
transfered.
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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,
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Senate
The Senate met at 9:30 a.m.. on t'?xnta.
L"R MOST DISGRACEz'IJL FED-
ERAL WASTE: ARMS TO DEVEIr
OPING COUNTRIES
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, re-
cently, senior New York Tunes cxlum-
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
V4 ashLnc~ton research institute called
World Priorities. Reston reports that
Futh Leger Siva.rd, who signed the
report, asserts that more wars were
foug2;t in 1587 th?n in any pre~~ious
year o:i record. Of coarse, practically
all of these ZS wars are still going on.
Already, World Priorities esti.~r_ates
that 3 million people-95 peace-~t of
them civilians--have died in these
wars. IL also estimates that to all the
wars since the end of World War II in
1945, the death total exceeds 17 mil-
1#on.
This wholesale and largely senseless
~'liing has been Going on In Latin
America, the Middle East, Africa, and
Asia. The location of these wars tells
us something. Korth America has been
spared this bloodshed. So has Europe.
The kiIIing, the traoma, the misery of
~'a>? has been entirely imposed on t,':e
people of ~ the nnderdasleloped 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 aII of
the profits from fabricating these
weapons of death went Lo developed
countries like the United States and
the Soviet Union.
The huge war casualties mxasure
only a part of the misery imposed on
these countries People in these devel-
oping countries are desperate for cap-
itaL They suffer gzossly inadequate
housing. Ddany are literally starving.
Most are able to afford only the most
rudimentary kind of health care. For
them, waz has been especisIIy cruel.
Waz has taken from these people
much of the pathetically limited re-
sources they so urgently need to
scrape a haze living from the soil. War
has brought widespread burning of
their homes. It has brought the killing
of their livestock. War has diirected
the energies of their youngest and
strongest manpower from constructive
work to kiIliru equally poor and miser-
able neighbors.
So what can we do about this gre-
tesque situation? Reston proposes as a
starter that the major nations that
dominate world communications pub-
lish anannual 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 proFose
that the United States declassify a li~L
of all the world's arms exports to
countries at war. We should repo:
thi: along with a record of the nu:_ibe:
of human bei:.ds killed in each G ~? Ll
the preceding year.
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S 7460
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE June 9, 19SS
On the basis of this kind of data, the
United States would pro~zde the basis
for public and congressional as well as
administration support for negotia-
tions with the Soviet Union and other
maior 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 will. Just possibly, with the new
sensitivity in the Soviet IInion to the
public advantage In promoting peace,
adl intense Campaign by this country
could help remove Soviet weapons
from Cuba and Nicaragua as we
remove American weapons from the
Contras. In Angala, we could Press for
the evacuation of the 35,000 Cuban
troops now senirig there and tY.e mas-
si~ a 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 info devel-
oping countries to provide the instru-
ments of death is appalling. In the 10
years from 1977 then 1986, according
to data provided to me by the State
Department, the IInited States and
other non-Communist countries have
shipped x140.1 billion in weapons into
developing countries! The Soviet
Union and its Communist allies have
ptunped in even more, a grim total of
5167.5 billion in weapons of war.
The non-Communist world has pro-
vided in this 10-Year period 513.3 bil-
lion in weapons of war to Latin Amer-
ica, with the United States accounting
for a surprisingly small percentitge of
that amount-x2.3 billicn. Bech West
Germany and France provided more
than the United States in the 10 years
from 1977 through 1986. The Commu-
nist nations moved even more weapons
into Latin America than the free
world-providing 314.9 billion worth,
with nearly 90 percent of that, or
313.2 bL'lion, coming from the Soviet
Union.
In East Asia, the impoverished but
warring developing countries received
323 billion of war materials from the
non-Communist countries, including
more than two-thirds of that sum
from the United States-a total of
x18.8 billion. The Commu_*list coun-
tries shipped 319.3 billion of weapons
and ammunition into devclopitig coun-
tries of East Asia with more tha_z 90
percent. 318.4 billion, coming from the
Soviet Union.
In Africa, the Ccmmunist countries
really swamped the impoverished war-
ring nations with 544.5 billion of mili-
tary weapons, a total of 337.4 billion,
or 80 percent, came from the Soviet
Union, while the free e?orld provided
far less-317.3 billion of military weap-
ons. Atotal of 52.2 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 377 billion of
military weapons, of which 528.4 bil-
lion, or about one-third, came from
the IIn!ted States. The Communist
world shipped 587.9 billion of military
weapons into the violent Middle East
with about 75 percent or 551.2 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 oarn countries by diverting their
Iimited resources to the 25 or so wars
that bedetzl the poorest pecpie 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 >~ more impoverished people.
Does anyone really believe that this
flood of deadly weapons will truly ad-
vance either brotherhood or freedom?
bin. 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
Lhe RECOxn.
There being no objection, the article
was ordered to be printed in the
RECOxn, as follows:
25 Watts ~. Sxttt. GOUrG o.t
(By James Reston)
WASIiIFGTON.-On Memorial Day, er, aS
the British cal] it, Rememb,'ance Day, there
were many solemn tributes to the dead of
past wars. But what we forgot to remember
15 that in the real world, below the summit
meeting, 25 wars are still going on.
That's not a typographical error. 25 !s the
number, as tabulated by a Washington re-
search institute called World Priorities.
Ruth Leger Siverd, who signed the study,
concedes the difficulty of getting an atxu-
rate casualty toll In these wars, but she esti-
mates that they have aL*eady taken the
lives of three million people, four-fifths of
them civilians.
She also noted the following: "The United
States arid the Soviet Union together spend
about x1.5 billion a day on military de-
fense.... 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 5365 million a year
above normal operating costs."
More wars, she said, were fought in 1987
than in any pret?icus Sear 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 1379; Guatemala, 138,000 since
196ti; Nicaragua, 30,000 ~tnce 1981, at:d Peru,
10,000 since 1981.
The Middle East-Iran-Iraq, 377,000 lives
in eight years: Lebanon, 52,000 since 1982.
(The study does not tac:~de countries ::here
uprisings pace taken fewer than i,000 li~~~s
a Year, as in Israel.)
Africa-Angola and Namibia, 213.000 since
1975. In addition, the Angolan war is linked
to a smaller conflict in which S,OPO people
have been killed in the south West Africa
People's Organization fight to expel South
African troops from Namiba: Chad, 7,000
since 1980; Ethiopia, 500.000 by war ard-e-
lated famine since 1980: Western Sahara.
10,000 since 1975; Mozambique, 400,000
since 1981 (plan 850,000 more refugees).
Also in Africa-mouth Africa, 4,000 since
1985: the Sudan, 10,000 since 1984, and
IIganda, 102,000 since 1981.
Asia-Afghanstan, 14,000 Sot let troop s
and 85,000 A_?ghans since 1979: Burma. 2,Oc~0
since 1985; separatist vio:ence in India, 5,000
since 1984; Indonesia (there are no reliable
estimates in the fighting over East Timor):
Cambodia, 24,000 since :979: Laos and Viet-
nam, 30,000 since 1970; the Philippines.
80,000 since 1870, and Sri Larka, 6.000 since
1384.
This study estimates that over all, since
the end of World War II in 1945, the death
total in all wars, rebeliors and uprisings of
various sorts have taken the lives of 17 mil-
lion people, about half the deaths of ll;e
last world cotu7ict.
The Economist of London, commenting on
this study, notes that, outside the Persi:.n
Gull war, as wars between nations have ds-
appeared. The magazine also notes progress
in the present evacuation of Soviet troops
frog Afghanistan and the United States-
Soviet efforts to reduce atomic weapons.
The World Priorities study said: "Present
nuclear arsenals, scattered worldwide, atone
represent over 28,000 times the explosi~: e
force of all armaments used in World V4~r
II.' '
But there are other problems. Many of
the present wars are fueled by the UnitFd
States, the So~:et Union and other irdwtri-
al nations, and the technology to produ^e
nuclear weapons continues to spread.
Also, the news of the present wars is llmii-
ed by indifference, censorship, as in CY:e
Iraq-Iran conflict, and unwillingness on the
part of the major governments to she: e
what information they have on these w~~s
with the public.
To a large extent, therefore, these are
"the forgotten wars," neglected even b~
those countries that preach the precious
value of every human late.
Much was said at the Reagan-Gorbachev
summit conference in Moscow about avoid-
ing future nuclear wars, but little if any-
thing about trying to end present war.
fought .with everyihing from clubs ar_c
stones to poison gas. Or even about reducing
the flow of military weapons to the comtat-
ants.
At least, the major nations that dotnina~e
the communications of the word could pub-
lish sn annual tally of the world's dead.
As it is nose, it a war is not on tetevisien.
It's not happening.
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, I
suggest the absence of a quorum and
yield the floor.
Tito ACTING PRESIDENT pro te::-
pore. The clerk will call the roll.
Tl:e legislative clerk proceeded tc
call the roll.
Prlr. REID. blr. P: esident, I a~::
urarimous consent that the order fc-
the quorum call be rescinded.
The F,CTING PRESIDENT pro t~.^.:
pore. ?ithout objection, it is so c-
dered.
The Chair recognizes the Senatc-
from *ievada, Senator REra. -
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