unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/02/89)
the specifics of the services' recommendations on how to implement the management review. Q: Can you tell us who has been appointed as the Service Acquisition Executives for the three services? A: I don't know. We'll take the question. I'm told, by the way, that this is the first visit by a Soviet Defense Minister to the United States. Q: Do you have anything on the investigation of Captain Hirsch? A: There's nothing really new. No change in his status. The Air Forc investigation is still in progress. He's still at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas. He's still restricted to the base. No charges have been filed, so there really isn't any change in the status. Now I don't know anything about the FBI being brought in. I think Air Force would be the best source to go to for an answer on that. Q: Now that the IOWA thing is largely behind us, can we go back to the F-117, what kind of declassification might be coming our way? You've been very helpful about the B-2 and all the flights and what it did on each flight, and arguably that's a more important program. A: It's a good question and it's one that we're looking at. I'm sorry I don't have a more definitive answer for you. You're not the only one that has made this case--it's just the most persuasively that the case has been made so far. (Laughter) No, you're not the first to make the case, and we're seeing what we can do for you. Q: Coming back to Colombia, you said there were 21 people currently in country. A: Connected with the specific emergency program. There are obviously other military people in Colombia for other purposes, but specifically those connected with the Emergency Drug Program, 21 is the number. Q: Can you elaborate as to what units they're from, what they're doing there? A: It changes from day to day, frankly. Many of them go down to unload aircraft, to make sure that landing strips are secure. The number fluctuates. I certainly don't have the details here of who they are. You could go back to DDI, but I frankly think it's going to be hard for them to give you much of a breakdown. As a general matter, we really haven't gone into that sort of detail on it. Q: Are they mostly from units in Panama? A: They would all be under SOUTHCOM's jurisdiction, but precisely where they came from, I don't know. Q: As a followup, have there been any incidents involving American personnel in Colombia? A: Any incidents involving American personnel? Q: They've had bombings taking place in Colombia. Have any of them affected American personnel in any way? A: Not that I'm aware of. Let me just say a couple of other things. There was considerable interest in a vote Tuesday in the Senate on the defense budget. Obviously the defense budget is something we continue to be interested in. Secretary Cheney was up on the Hill again yesteday discussing the defense budget. The Senate is still debating the Appropriations Bill, but there was some characterization of the Tuesday vote as "the vote" on the SDI program. Let me say that I think that is very soft ground, that's very thin ice--I'm just full of these wonderful expressions today! The vote that was referred to in a couple of the news accounts was an $8 billion amendment in budget authority put some things back into the Senate Appropriations Committee Bill which is being debated. It had a total, as I say, of $8,491,000,000 in budget authorit and $710 million in outlays, of which SDI was $298 million, so that's less than 4 percent of the total. Now that was a straight up and down vote on that amendment. To say that that vote was a vote on SDI, I think, is stretching the matter. Additionally, you need to know that that was a substitute amendment. T Appropriations Committee had its own amendment. I think there is some perception here that one of the reasons that bill failed was that the appropriators didn't like the substitute. They wanted their own amendment -- So I'm just cautioning you that I don't necessarily share the interpretation, I certainly don't share the interpretation -- that Tuesday's vote was "_t_h_ on SDI. When you consider that that was an $8 billion package of which SDI was $298 million. There were a whole bunch of other things in there--ice breakers, fast sealift, AH-64s, Stingers, all kinds of other things. So I think it's stretching it to say that it's the vote on SDI. Q: You volunteered this answer. Would you also volunteer what you think the outcome is going to be? A: No, I would not make a prediction. I will reserve the right to comment on stories as they come past the podium. But our understanding is the Senate may have a separate up or down vote on SDI. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726 patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733 patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | (3/12/24/9600 Baud) -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-