Word: aspine
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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House Armed Services Committee chairman Les Aspin did not quote that bumper- sticker slogan last week, but he made the same point. Reversing his previous support for the Stealth bomber, Aspin urged a halt in future production for two main reasons: 1) the virtually undetectable plane's costs are soaring ($63 billion for 75 planes), and 2) the ebbing of the Soviet threat has left the bomber without a clear-cut mission. Says Aspin: "Much has happened in the past year, but nothing that has happened has improved the case...
...House is likely to agree with Aspin, but the Senate's response is unpredictable. Armed Services Committee chairman Sam Nunn admits that the Stealth is in worse trouble than ever: "Chairman Aspin's decision will make the fight to preserve the B-2 an uphill battle." The fight could turn on economics. Some experts predict that killing the B-2 would mean the demise of its builder, the Northrop Corp., and the loss of at least 12,000 jobs...
Congress keeps insisting on cuts in the defense budget, but one of the biggest obstacles is the schizophrenia on Capitol Hill: members who fight a rear-guard defense to prevent the Pentagon from cutting weapons made in their districts. Last week Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced his opposition to the B-2 Stealth bomber. But other costly programs that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney wants to kill are being protected for pork- barrel rather than military reasons. Here are Cheney's multi-year savings estimates and the reasons they may not be realized...
...intentions, critics point out that it is also profoundly dangerous. Veteran arms negotiator Paul Nitze says that despite the political changes sweeping Europe, the superpowers remain locked in an unstable, apocalyptic embrace. Georgia's Democratic Senator Sam Nunn has proposed a review of targeting doctrine, and Wisconsin Democrat Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will probe the issue at hearings. The most determined critic is Delaware's Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, who urges a presidential review of nuclear plans to determine whether deterrence is now possible "at a greatly reduced level...
...over, Bush fudged: "Well, I don't know -- we've got to wait and see." Ever since the summit, the President has heard grumbling -- and not only from right-wingers -- that he failed to "jam it to them while they're weak," in the words of Wisconsin Democrat Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Aspin predicts "potential problems" for both the chemical-weapons treaty signed at the summit and an eventual pact to reduce strategic nuclear warheads. But the biggest trouble at the moment is a bipartisan rebellion against a trade agreement that would grant Moscow most...