Strategic Overview
Over the past year, we have looked hard at the future and at the changes that will shape tomorrow's Armed Forces. In May the Secretary of Defense presented the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), our best thinking on how to position our Armed Forces for success in the 21st Century. The Chiefs and I urge the Congress to support its conclusions to maintain the readiness of the armed forces, to keep faith with our military and civilian personnel, and to prepare for an uncertain future.
Our National Security Strategy continues to evolve in light of dynamic changes in the international security environment. When our greatest threat was the USSR and its satellites, our strategy focused on the twin pillars of strategic deterrence and containment. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact transformed our world by eliminating the Soviet conventional threat to Europe; by dramatically reducing the strategic nuclear threat to the United States; and by discrediting communism as a viable alternative to free market democracy. Today, regional instability, international terrorist organizations and the possible use of weapons of mass destruction are the principal threats we face.
U.S. security strategy has evolved accordingly in response to these sweeping changes. In 1997 the White House released the President's National Security Strategy for a New Century, followed by the Secretary's QDR Defense Strategy, and the 1997 National Military Strategy. Our national security strategy seeks to shape the international security environment to foster stability and promote U.S. interests abroad; to respond when necessary to the full range of potential crises from smaller scale contingency operations to major theater wars; and to prepare now for an uncertain future.
Our strategy is no longer oriented on the Soviet Union or any other single state, but on the full range of threats and opportunities confronting U.S. interests, seeking global engagement in a manner that fosters political and economic stability. Similarly, we now focus on regional threats to global U.S. interests such as those posed by North Korea and Iraq rather than on global warfare. As a result, while seeking to preserve long-standing relationships, we are adapting our alliances to promote peace and stability without focusing on specific adversaries.
In addition, while strategic nuclear deterrence remains vital, our strategy now seeks to counter the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), while building trust among nations through arms control, transparency, and confidence-building efforts. We now structure our forces and systems to face security challenges characterized by the information revolution, transnational organizations, asymmetric challenges, and regional powers. Despite undertaking many new tasks, our forces stand ready to execute their foremost requirement: to fight and win our Nation's wars.
Our posture of forward presence directly supports our efforts to shape the international security environment to encourage stability and promote peaceful resolution of potential conflicts. The QDR thoroughly reviewed our overseas force posture and reaffirmed the need to maintain current force levels of about 100,000 personnel in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, with a strong rotational presence of about 25,000 personnel in Southwest Asia and 15,000 in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. These forces provide regional stability and a deterrent against military aggression in these key areas.
In Europe, the Partnership for Peace (PfP) continues to be an encouraging success story. After four years, Partnership for Peace has laid the foundation for transforming NATO for a new century. U.S. bilateral efforts have set the standard for NATO allies by assisting 27 Partner nations with military reforms and NATO interoperability programs. During 1997, the U.S. contributed $48 million to support more than 40 PfP exercises and other events. Our goals for FY99 will include efforts to increase NATO resource support for Partners, and to improve NATO-Partner planning for peace support operations.
NATO Enlargement is another key element in reshaping the security architecture in Europe to help ensure future stability. I am convinced that accepting qualified new members will decrease the chances of future conflict in Europe and serve both U.S. and Alliance interests well in the next century. Last December, NATO ministers accepted initial cost estimates of approximately $1.5 billion over 10 years for common funded military requirements associated with NATO Enlargement. This figure is based on the results of the ground analysis performed by SHAPE over the past several months, which estimated Alliance requirements for integrating and defending the three invited nations. The NATO figure is lower than the estimate in the February DoD report, primarily because NATO found military infrastructure in these nations to be in better shape than expected. I fully support NATO Enlargement as a necessary adaptation to our changed security environment and a sound investment for peace and stability in Europe.
NATO operations in Bosnia in support of the Dayton Accords involve a number of prospective new members and remain the largest NATO undertaking since the end of the Cold War. The NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) continues to deter the resumption of hostilities and facilitate the civilian implementation process.
Although President Clinton has announced that "... in principle the United States will take part in a security presence in Bosnia when SFOR withdraws this summer," we are still awaiting the post-SFOR plan from the NATO military authorities for approval. SACEUR has identified early summer for deployment of the NATO Follow on Force (FOF). My assessment is that the size of the FOF must be based on the security environment in Bosnia, the mission the force will undertake, and the level of risk we are willing to accept. The U.S. contribution will be a function of how much we want to continue to influence matters on the ground. We will in any case expect the Europeans to shoulder increased responsibilities. Ultimately, the U.S. contingent must be strong enough to defend itself against all threats it is likely to encounter in Bosnia.

Operations
Around the world, U.S. military forces carried out a demanding series of operations in FY97 in more than 20 major operations and many other smaller ones. On average, 43,000 service members per month participated in operations ranging from peacekeeping to humanitarian assistance to evacuation of U.S. and allied nationals from threatened locations. The American people can be proud of the outstanding performance of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines around the globe. Our strategic reach and flexibility contributes immeasurably to international stability -- and the high level of professionalism and competence shown by our forces ensures the respect of both friends and potential adversaries everywhere we go.
In the Balkans, the 32,000-strong NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) continues to provide a safe and secure environment for implementation of the Dayton Accords. Approximately 8,500 American troops, both active and reserve, serve in Bosnia with another 3,500 located in neighboring countries. SFOR is supported by a coalition air operation, Operation DELIBERATE GUARD, which includes approximately 1,150 U.S. personnel and 50 manned and unmanned aircraft. Also important to regional stability in the Balkans is Task Force ABLE SENTRY, the U.S. contribution to the United Nations Preventive Deployment (UNPREDEP) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 350 U.S. troops serve in UNPREDEP, supported by a U.S. aviation detachment of approximately 30 personnel. We anticipate this mission will end in FY98.
In recent years, Africa has been the region most likely to involve the commitment of U.S. forces in a crisis situation. In the past two years, U.S. forces have deployed to Africa on five occasions for both Non-Combatant Evacuation and Humanitarian Relief Operations, a clear indication of our important interests in regional stability. One program that can help provide stability in Africa is the African Crisis Response Initiative or ACRI. The goal of the ACRI is to enhance existing African capacities to respond quickly and more effectively to developing or ongoing crises in Africa. The objective is to generate rapidly-deployable, inter-operable units from stable, democratic African countries that can work together to maintain peace on the African continent. Success of the ACRI concept will contribute to long-term African stability and reduce the need for our forces to respond to crises in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 1997, U.S. forces also supported enforcement of the no-fly zone over northern Iraq as part of a coalition force in Operation NORTHERN WATCH. Following repeated Iraqi violations of the northern no-fly zone, the Turkish Parliament on 7 November 1997 approved an expansion of coalition no-fly zone operations. Approximately 1,300 U.S. personnel and 50 aircraft support Operation NORTHERN WATCH, along with forces from the United Kingdom and Turkey.
In southern Iraq, Operation SOUTHERN WATCH remained in effect throughout 1997 to ensure compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions prohibiting Iraq from building up its forces south of the 32d parallel, threatening its neighbors and repressing its internal minorities. 28,000 U.S. personnel, 28 ships, 363 land and carrier-based aircraft, and a mechanized battalion task force support SOUTHERN WATCH, a multinational operation with participants from the U.K., France, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. We are fully ready to defend and enforce our interests in the region, particularly with respect to Iraqi non-compliance with UN resolutions regarding chemical and biological weapons.
In the Arabian Gulf, maritime intercept operations continued to monitor shipping to ensure compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions. Although the U.S. assumed the bulk of responsibility for operations during 1997, the U.K., Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Italy also participated. In the Sinai, nearly 1,000 U.S. troops served with the Multinational Force and Observer (MFO) mission. Since 1982, U.S. troops have performed monitoring duties in accordance with the provisions of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
In the Western Hemisphere, our Armed Forces performed numerous missions in support of the Administration's counter-drug efforts, providing support for 501 counterdrug missions in the United States. Support to domestic law enforcement agencies included Mobile Training Teams, fence and road construction, transportation support, linguist and intelligence analyst services, detection, monitoring and communications operations, and ground and aerial reconnaissance. On 26 July 1997, Secretary Cohen temporarily withdrew authorization for all counterdrug ground reconnaissance and ground based detection, monitoring, and communication missions by U.S. armed forces in CONUS and other U.S. territories and possessions.
In Latin America, more than 1500 U.S. personnel are making significant contributions to the development of a more comprehensive regional approach to counterdrug operations. In Honduras, Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-B), with 510 U.S. service members, completed its 14th year of operations to promote cooperative security and regional stability in Central America. The U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, currently hosts 40-60 migrants on any given day, while U.S. forces also supplement Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration detection and monitoring capabilities in the Florida Straits. In 1997, DoD personnel deployed to Haiti to perform humanitarian and civic assistance projects as part of rotational unit training exercises. We are continuing our training deployments for the time being at a pace and level of effort comparable to that maintained over the past year.
In the vast Asia-Pacific region, our military forces exert a strong stabilizing influence in an often unpredictable area. In addition to our five mutual defense treaties with South Korea, Japan, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines, we are stepping up military to military contacts with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote mutual understanding, transparency, and trust. Our forces in Korea continue to perform a vital role in deterring conflict and ensuring stability on that troubled peninsula. U.S. Navy port calls to Hong Kong continue, and completion of the Military Maritime Consultation Agreement provides an historic framework for a U.S. - PRC dialog on military operations at sea.
Elsewhere in the region, continued efforts to research, find, repatriate and identify American personnel Missing in Action in Southeast Asia resulted in 11 successful missions in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, with 484 missing American servicemen positively identified to date. Five recovery operations are scheduled in North Korea for FY98 to help account for missing servicemen from the Korean conflict. Additionally, we have deployed a team to assist the Laotian government in building an organic national demining program, similar to our efforts in Cambodia.

Readiness
Maintaining a high state of readiness to execute the military tasks assigned by the National Command Authorities remains our first and most important priority. U.S. military forces remain the best equipped, best trained and most capable of any in the world. Our military power, in conjunction with a strong, dynamic economy and skilled diplomacy, guarantees that American citizens and territory are protected and that our standard of living and our democratic values are maintained. Our ability to maintain strong, capable forces throughout the globe, backed up by flexible, strategically deployable forces from CONUS, makes us the preeminent military power in the world. This ability to selectively apply military forces anywhere in the world is a major stabilizing factor in international affairs and a key component in American world leadership.
Since the end of the Cold War, we have used our military forces more frequently to support our security interests and conduct major operations where U.S. leadership was needed. There is no question that more frequent deployments affect readiness. We are beginning to see anecdotal evidence of readiness issues in some units, particularly at the tactical level of operations. At the operational and strategic levels, however, we remain capable of conducting operations across the spectrum of conflict. Readiness issues have our full attention, and we are working aggressively to refine and improve our mechanisms for tracking readiness and, with Congressional support, for correcting the readiness shortfalls we have identified. While we are undeniably busier and more fully committed than in the past, the U.S. military remains fully capable of executing the National Military Strategy with an acceptable level of risk. I can assure the Congress that we are not returning to the 1970's. We are fundamentally healthy and will continue to report our readiness status to the Congress and American people with candor and accuracy.
Contingency operations not funded in the defense budget continue to impact on how we allocate resources within the military. The extension of operations in Bosnia and increased tensions in the Gulf have resulted in unfunded contingency requirements in FY98. In addition, the FY99 budget does not explicitly fund Bosnia contingency requirements. To ensure adequate funding for readiness and normal operations this year, we will request supplemental appropriations in accordance with Congressional language. Without timely relief, we will be forced to absorb these costs from operations and maintenance accounts, to the detriment of overall readiness.
Tempo, the pace of peacetime activities of the force, is another major concern for senior military leaders. The reality of our current tempo is that we are doing more operations with a smaller force. While our overall force structure has declined by approximately one third since FY88, our requirements across a broad range of military operations have greatly increased. On any given day more than 40,000 personnel are participating in ongoing named operations and many more are away from home supporting other routine, yet no-less demanding, requirements.
Unchecked, high tempo may lead to both near-term and long-term readiness concerns. In the near-term, increased tempo contributes to lost training opportunities and accelerated wear on equipment. In the long-term, increased tempo has its greatest impact on our people, by negatively impacting their quality of life and jeopardizing our ability to attract and retain quality people.
We have implemented several initiatives to better manage the increased tempo brought on by a changed security environment and our strategy of engagement. The Joint Staff has led an effort to control selected Low Density/High Demand assets through the Global Military Force Policy (GMFP). In addition, a 15% man-days reduction in the Joint Exercise Program through FY98 has been directed, and we are studying further reductions now. Other ongoing efforts include the increased use of Reserve Component assets; global sourcing; increased use of contractors and allied support; use of like systems (i.e. EP3s in lieu of RC135s); and the Joint Monthly Readiness Review (JMRR), which includes tools to provide better visibility and management of potential tempo problems.
Managing the pace of operations better is directly related to improving personnel readiness -- the linchpin of a trained and ready force. We place our people in a demanding environment that subordinates them to national and professional requirements. Their commitment is around the clock. Our standards are high, and we demand frequent, personal sacrifices from them, sometimes to the extent of risking their lives. Attracting and retaining the right people, and developing them as joint warfighters, is as important as anything else we do in the readiness arena.
Recruiting and retention are the most immediate measures of our ability to hire and keep the right kinds of people to accomplish our mission. Although recruiting is a growing challenge, all the Services met or exceeded recruiting objectives in FY97, with quality of recruits remaining above the DoD standard. FY97 was a more difficult year than most, but the Services met the challenge and are aggressively working to meet 1998 goals. While increased resources for recruiting can help, funding is only part of the picture. All Services must compete with a strong economy and a highly competitive job market.
Retention goals have remained constant at about 80 percent for the past four years. First term reenlistment rates remain a concern, reflective of the societal phenomena and propensity to enlist factors also affecting recruitment. Across the board, pilot retention in particular is causing concern. Among other incentives, the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are expanding Aviation Continuation Pay to encourage higher retention rates for their highly trained aviation personnel.
Now, more than ever, the role of our Reserve Components (RC) is growing in importance. 1997 saw an increase over 1996 in use of RC support to Theater CINCs as one way to help moderate the strain of increased Tempo. RC units and individuals possess many of the capabilities needed for regional contingencies and crises, as well as exercise support and routine peacetime augmentation, which are not always readily available in the active force. As the Secretary has said on a number of occasions, we cannot achieve the flexibility and interoperability we need for the full range of military operations without a seamless Total Force. This year, two senior Assistant to the Chairman positions have been added to the Joint Staff to assist me in improving the way we support and employ our Reserve Components -- our trump card in maintaining our position of global leadership.
Similar to our military personnel, many of our civilian employees are asked to perform jobs under conditions not experienced by other federal civilians. As we recognize their day-to-day contributions to maintaining a ready force, we must also continue to ensure that we provide adequate deployment compensation packages for our civilians deployed in support of military operations.
In addition to high quality personnel, one of our greatest military strengths is our unparalleled military Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) systems. As in the past, our C4I capability is dependent upon both government-owned and commercially-provided systems. This Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) is vital to the success of our National Security Strategy.
1997 saw both continued successes and increasing challenges to our C4I infrastructure. We made strong progress in improving interoperability of our C4I systems between the services, and with our allies as well. However, a major concern exists with legislation encouraging sale of portions of the radio spectrum, once reserved for military or other Federal Government use, to the private sector. Increasing competition for use of the frequency bands critical to military operations could threaten our decisive advantage in C4I. DoD and the Joint Staff took important steps in 1997 to consolidate DoD's review of frequency spectrum use, laying the foundation for our participation in the national debate on how best to allocate use of the spectrum.
A top readiness priority remains strategic lift, a strong pillar of America's military strategy. We examined mobility requirements in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) across a continuum of planning scenarios, from smaller-scale contingency operations to major theater wars (MTW) and single-theater conflicts. In each case, we measured the ability of DoD's long-range investment program for strategic mobility to support potential deployment requirements. The QDR reaffirmed DoD's baseline requirements for intertheater mobility, as outlined in the 1995 Mobility Requirements Study Bottom-Up Review Update (MRS BURU).
Our strategic airlift capabilities have improved greatly with the advent of the C17 Globemaster, the emerging cornerstone of America's strategic mobility fleet. The C17 program is executing a seven year procurement of 120 aircraft by 2003, saving approximately $1 billion compared to annual buys. The C17 will eventually replace the aging C141 fleet as the mainstay of our strategic airlift capability in the next century. We are experiencing reliability problems with the C5 Galaxy, and USTRANSCOM is studying a comprehensive modernization program to correct the Galaxy's low mission reliability rates.
Strategic sealift represents the heart of our power projection capability and requires additional attention. The MRS BURU validated a need for 10 million square feet of surge capacity to move the forces for a single MTW, which would then be recycled for a second conflict. In order to ensure we have access to the types of shipping we need, primarily Roll-on/Roll-off (RO/RO) ships, DoD embarked on an ambitious acquisition plan for organic sealift. The nineteen Large Medium Speed Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) vessels which DoD will acquire by FY01 will be the centerpiece of America's strategic sealift capability. This program has enjoyed strong support from Congress in the past and is funded in the Navy budget. Keeping this program on track for a FY01 completion is essential and a top strategic lift priority.
In addition to the LMSRs, the study identified a need to add 19 RO/RO ships to the Ready Reserve Force (RRF). This component of the surge requirement has proved to be more difficult. Although we've added 14 RO/ROs to the RRF since 1992 for a total of 31, the MRS BURU completion goal of 36 by FY01 will not be met. The Joint, TRANSCOM, and Navy Staffs are continuing to look at all options, including evaluation of commercial U.S. flag programs, not available at the time of the BURU, in order to fill surge requirements, to reach a capacity goal of 10 million square feet. DoD had been converting foreign built vessels in the absence of suitable U.S. built vessels. DoD has established a program to expand the available square footage on several existing RRF RO/RO ships by 200,000 square feet. This has reduced our shortfall to approximately 350,000 square feet, or an additional three RO/ROs, but Congress has not authorized foreign-built RO/RO acquisition the past three years. If an acquisition requirement remains after final evaluation of commercial sealift, we will develop a program for procuring the rest of the required sealift. A strong commitment to reaching the Ready Reserve Force capacity goal is needed to meet our sealift requirements for the 21st Century.
In addition to deploying forces by sea and air from CONUS, the U.S. military enjoys a major strategic deployment advantage through its afloat and ashore prepositioning programs. Major wartime stocks of equipment and supplies are prepositioned ashore in Korea, Europe, and Southwest Asia, greatly increasing our ability to rapidly build up combat forces in time of crisis. Marine, Army and Air Force maritime prepositioning assets augment these stocks, and can deploy quickly over great distances with very large cargoes to crisis areas. Our prepositioned stocks give us unmatched strategic reach and flexibility and contribute in a major way to our ability to deter aggression by regional adversaries. These programs are adequately funded and supported at the present time. Continued support by the Congress will go far toward keeping us the world's preeminent strategic power far into the next century.
Our experiences in the Gulf War, and in numerous operations since then, have
highlighted the need for better medical force protection. Accordingly, we are aggressively pursuing a unified strategy to protect military members from medical hazards associated with their military service, from accession through retirement. These initiatives include thorough medical screening upon accession, at home station, and before deployment; standardized methods to identify medical hazards and apply countermeasures while deployed; better preventive medicine during deployments ; and stronger emphasis on post-deployment screening. Our program for enhanced force medical protection relies on exploiting advanced technologies such as the electronic medical record and biosensing. Emerging technology and heightened awareness give us the best opportunities ever for protecting the force -- opportunities we must not and will not neglect.
Though no DOD lives were lost to terrorism last year, terrorism continues to be a major threat to our forces deployed abroad and here at home. Few challenges are as menacing. Terrorism itself is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the vastly increased capability available to terrorist organizations, due to proliferating information and weapons technologies.
In the near future, these organizations could attempt to employ Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), such as chemical or biological agents, or even small nuclear devices, to achieve their ends. Adding to the danger is the increasing level of financial support that terrorist groups receive from private sources and hostile states. Unable to confront or compete with the United States militarily, our adversaries spend millions of dollars each year to finance terrorist organizations targeted against U.S. citizens, property and interests. Increasingly, these groups are expanding their operations to North America.
Consequently, the Combatant Commanders and the Services are redoubling their efforts to provide our service members with the best possible force protection education, doctrine, procedures, and technology. Stimulated by the recommendations of the Downing Assessment Task Force, the Secretary of Defense designated the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as his principal advisor and the Department's focal point for all matters related to force protection. All recommendations contained in the Downing Report have been implemented, resulting in an improved organizational focus, better policy, more intelligence emphasis, increased use of state-of-the-art technology, and additional physical security funding.
Important force protection initiatives include the newly-designated Chairman's Deputy Director for Operations for Combating Terrorism, the catalyst for new DOD policy, direction, standards and education; enhanced force protection training for DoD personnel at the individual, unit, commander, and senior leader level; comprehensive vulnerability assessments worldwide; and improved intelligence sharing and analysis of terrorist related events, both at the national and theater levels.
Today, force protection enjoys a higher budget priority than ever before. The Joint Staff recently completed a comprehensive review of future funding for force protection, designating force protection as a major priority for the FY 1999 -2003 program review. In the near term, a Combating Terrorism Readiness Initiatives Fund has been authorized to fund emergency or high priority antiterrorism requirements.
Despite these efforts, we cannot guarantee that no terrorist incidents will occur. We have, however, made great strides in strengthening our Force Protection/Counter-Terrorism programs and posture around the world, to give our service members the best possible protection against this increasingly dangerous threat. Our progress to date is a testament to the exceptional cooperation between the Services, CINCs, DoD agencies, and commanders at all levels. For all of us, the goal is to make the U.S. military the premier counter-terrorism force in the world.
One of the best forms of force protection is arms control, and we continue to work diligently in pursuit of arms control initiatives on all levels. Congressional support remains crucial to our efforts to put agreements into place. For example, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) bans an entire class of weapons of mass destruction and allows for intrusive inspections for verification while protecting national security concerns. Its principal intent is to curb proliferation to reduce the threat that U.S. forces will encounter chemical weapons.
The status of biological weapons negotiations is more of an open issue. The 1975 Biological Weapons Convention prohibits the development, acquisition, stockpiling, or retention of biological agents, toxins, or weapons, but unfortunately has no enforcement mechanism. We will work to ensure that any compliance regime also protects national security and proprietary interests for dual-use technologies.
In the conventional forces arms control arena, the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty remains a cornerstone of European security, with 30 participating States. Since the current treaty reflects the old NATO-Warsaw Pact structure, we are working to revise the treaty based on national ceilings. Our guiding principle is to provide military stability and transparency while retaining our operational flexibility and capacity to perform current and anticipated missions.
An extremely significant arms control initiative that received widespread attention during the past year was the "Ottowa process" to ban all antipersonnel land mines (APL). As written, we could not sign the agreement because it denied us an adequate transition period to phase out the anti-personnel land mines we now use to protect our troops. In Korea, for example, where we stand face-to-face with one of the largest hostile armies in the world, we rely upon anti-personnel landmines to protect our troops. The agreement would also deny use of our mixed anti-tank munitions, which are critical to defeat enemy armored offensives, as well as time to devise and implement alternative technologies.
As the world leader in the effort to eliminate anti-personnel landmines, our position on this issue is very clear. On 16 May 1996, the President ordered a unilateral ban on the most dangerous types of land mines, those that remain active long after their intended military use. Since that time the United States has destroyed over 2.1 million of these land mines and will destroy the remainder by the end of 1999, with the exception of those deployed along the DMZ in Korea. We are also working to develop an alternative to self-destructing APLs. Our goal is to eliminate the use of all APLs by the year 2003 except in Korea, and have alternatives ready for Korea by 2006. Additionally, we are significantly increasing our de-mining programs throughout the world. Currently, no nation devotes more expertise or resources to solving this problem than the United States. Our plan is to provide $80 million for international de-mining efforts, by far the largest investment of any nation.
For these reasons, I am concerned about any APL legislation that is more restrictive than the President's policy. Such legislation is unlikely to significantly improve our already robust de-mining efforts and may endanger the lives of our troops. The U.S. and other parties adopted the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) amended Protocol II on landmines on 3 May 1996. This agreement is intended to strengthen humanitarian controls on the use of APLs. I strongly urge the Senate to give this and the other CCW Protocols the support they deserve.
Negotiations on strategic issues are also on-going. In 1993 the United States began negotiations with Russia on agreements that differentiate between strategic Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) systems covered by the ABM Treaty and Theater anti-ballistic Missile Systems (TMD), which are not. The resulting agreements were signed on 26 September 1997 and will be submitted to the Senate for ratification.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) process remains a success story. Currently, all parties have exceeded Phase I (Dec 1997) reduction requirements and are already approaching Phase II (Dec 1999) limits. It remains unclear whether the Russian Duma will ratify START II, despite our efforts to address Russian concerns through the NATO Founding Act and other initiatives. It remains our position that the Duma must ratify START II before negotiations can begin on START III.
I am concerned about the programmatic impact of a delay of START II entry into force. Strategic weapon systems funding over the FYDP is based on START II force levels. In the event that START II is not implemented and a START I force structure is retained, additional funding of approximately $5.1 billion will be required during the FYDP.
In his State of the Union Address, the President asked the Senate to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty this year. The Joint Chiefs of Staff support ratification of this treaty, with the safeguards package that establishes the conditions under which the United States would adhere to the treaty. Last week, four previous Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Shalikashvili, General Powell, Admiral Crowe, and General Jones, joined me in endorsing this position.
A related issue is the critical operational need for the U.S. to ratify the Law of the Sea Convention. The Convention codifies navigational freedoms essential to the planning and execution of our national security strategy. The treaty also provides the assurance that key sea and air lines of communication will remain open as a matter of international legal right, which is necessary for the mobility of today's down-sized, less forward-deployed force. I encourage the Senate to approve the treaty expeditiously.

Taking Care of People and Families
Given the demanding pace of our military operations, we must allow our people to focus on the mission free from worry about their families or quality of life. I continue to believe in the value of a strong, comprehensive compensation package to attract and retain quality people. The specific core elements we need to sustain a quality force -- competitive pay, quality, accessible medical benefits, an attractive retirement system and decent, affordable housing -- underpin our ability to keep the force trained and ready. I must emphasize that addressing these fundamental quality of life expectations is vital to building and maintaining a healthy, capable military force.
We appreciate the efforts of the Administration and Congress to provide the full pay raise allowed by law. A fair, inflation-protected retirement is also a key retention incentive, and we must maintain cost-of-living adjustments to maintain its effectiveness and keep faith with those who have served. We have already made significant changes to the retirement system over the past fifteen years which will hold down future costs. In each case, these changes grandfathered those people currently serving. In my view, further attempts to reduce retirement benefits will have far-reaching effects on retention and recruitment and would be ill-advised.
In the area of health care, we are in the midst of a long-term program to restructure our military medical community to better support the wartime mission. Nevertheless, our obligation to support military retirees with quality health care remains firm. Though proximity to military health care facilities has been reduced as our medical infrastructure has changed, we must preserve our commitment to our retirees by ensuring that their health costs are not increased and their access to care is not lowered.
One promising initiative is Medicare subvention, a program which reimburses DoD by Medicare for treatment of Medicare eligible retirees at Military Treatment Facilities. This year, DoD will begin testing Medicare subvention at six sites around the country. Our retiree outreach programs consistently tell us that health care is a primary concern for military retirees. To keep faith with those who served, and to attract the quality recruits we need, military health care benefits must be protected.
Military housing is an ongoing concern because of the unsatisfactory condition of many of our units, both family dwellings and barracks. Approximately one third of all military families live in government housing, and of these, 66% have been declared substandard. 25% of our 500,000 barracks spaces do not meet current standards, with the Services reporting a shortfall of 42,000 spaces. Because living conditions impact on recruiting, retention, and readiness, Congressional support to address our shortcomings in military housing is badly needed.
With congressional support, we continue to improve the quality of our family support systems throughout the Force. Military child care programs and facilities have been designated by the president as models to improve our national programs, and they are vital Quality of Life components of a trained and ready Force. Continued congressional funding and support remains essential to maintaining and upgrading adequate child care and family support services, particularly in an era of frequent deployments and separations for service members.
We must provide a quality of life for service members that reflects the uniqueness of military service and allows us to compete successfully to retain our quality people. However, despite a long-standing departmental leadership commitment to quality of life, slow supplemental funding for unprogrammed contingency costs impacts those programs. Often, base operations funds that directly support people become bill payers for unprogrammed operations costs. We need to protect quality of life program funding and focus further attention on those areas that help members and families during frequent deployments.
In addition to adequate benefits and facilities, a safe and professional working environment based on trust and teamwork is essential to fielding a quality Joint Force. All members of the Armed Forces must have confidence in their ability to serve and progress in an environment free of discrimination and harassment. Like the diverse society we serve, the military is made up of men and women from many different cultural, ethnic, social, and religious groups. This diversity is a source of strength we must nurture and support, based on our bedrock commitment to respect for the dignity of the individual. Our support for Equal Opportunity is a key part of everything we do, and will continue as a core value of military service. When America's families give us their most precious asset -- their sons and daughters -- we owe them no less.