Reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Strengthening our security also requires an aggressive effort against weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical, and biological -- and their means of delivery. From the nuclear weapons programs in Iraq and North Korea to the Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, our nation has seen that this threat is clear and present. To meet it, we must seize the opportunities presented by the end of the Cold War to cut weapons of mass destruction stockpiles while working to prevent lethal weapons and materials from falling into the wrong hands.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore have pursued the most far reaching arms control and non-proliferation agenda in history. They negotiated an agreement to end the targeting of Russian nuclear missiles on American cities and citizens. They secured ratification of START II which, along with START I will reduce Russian and American arsenals by two- thirds. They prevented the breakup of the Soviet Union from yielding three new nuclear weapons states, by convincing Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to give up their nuclear weapons. They secured the indefinite and unconditional extension of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. They acted to freeze North Korea's nuclear program.
The Democratic Party supports efforts to sign a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty this year and to bring it into force as soon as possible. We support immediate ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention -- delayed too long by the Dole Senate. We support full funding of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program to ensure that nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union do not fall into the wrong hands. We support vigilant efforts, in cooperation with the Republic of Korea, Japan, and others, to ensure North Korea fully abides by its agreements to dismantle its nuclear program, and we support the Administration's vigorous efforts to prevent Iraq, Iran, and other dangerous states from acquiring or developing weapons of mass destruction.
The Democratic Party is committed to a strong and balanced National Missile Defense program. The Administration is spending $3 billion a year on six different systems to protect our troops in the field and our allies from short and medium range missiles. To prepare for the possibility of a long range missile attack on American soil by a rogue state, the Clinton Administration is committed to developing by the year 2000 a defensive system that could be deployed by 2003, well before the threat becomes real. The Democratic Party opposes the Republican NMD plan --spending up to $60 billion on a revival of the Star Wars program that would force us to choose a costly system today that could be obsolete tomorrow. The Republican plan would waste money, weaken America's defenses and violate existing arms control agreements that make us more secure. It is the wrong way to defend America.