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Does George W. Bush Have the Experience to be Commander in Chief?

Cable News Network CROSSFIRE
September 24, 1999; Friday 7:30 pm Eastern Time
BYLINE: Bill Press, John Kasich
GUESTS:
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, BUSH FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER
ROBERT HUNTER, GORE FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER

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PRESS: I want to move another thing that was in the governor's speech. Talk about pouring money down a rat hole, since 1983 we have spent $140 billion trying to build a missile-defense system, and we can't get it right yet. Isn't it -- I mean, how much more good money are you going to throw after bad?

RICE: Well first of all, I would argue with the premise that we've spent money trying to build a missile-defense system, at least in this administration, because we have been so hampered by the Antiballistic Missile Treaty for the testing of components, for the development and deployment, that we actually haven't put the best national efforts in this.

Now, we have a different problem than we had when President Reagan talked about a strategic-defense initiative. We are not talking about trying to defend against thousands of Soviet nuclear warhead. That was, I thought, as a specialist, a very difficult, if not impossible, ask. We're now talking about national and theater-missile defense against ones and twos, that is rogue states, perhaps unauthorized release. That's a much easier task, and it's a task that I think we can beat. We are having some success at the theater level, and we'll have success at the national level.

PRESS: By the way, I differ with Bill Clinton on this, too. I think we ought to junk the whole project. I mean, you talk about looking ahead. I mean, look at what happened in Oklahoma City. Look at what happened to the World Trade Center. Isn't a bomb more likely to be a threat to the United States coming in Ryder truck than on a missile top?

RICE: You have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. The fact is, that we do need better intelligence. We need to organize ourselves better against terrorism. But we also need a missile shield, and we need it against the particular kind of threat that's has grown in recent years.

KASICH: But look, ambassador, and Dr. Rice hits on a very important point, and that's intelligence. Up on Capitol Hill, we believe that the administration has basically ignored our intelligence capability. It's either been bad intelligence -- and you think about it, we bombed the Chinese embassy. We claimed that we bombed a dangerous plant in Africa. It was an Aspirin plant. What are we going do to rebuild our intelligence in this country and keep an eye on the people who are shipping intelligence out to the Chinese.

PRESS: Got to be a quick answer.

HUNTER: We've been rebuilding it ever since it was downgraded in the last administration.

(CROSSTALK)

KASICH: George Bush was the head of the CIA. He didn't downgrade intelligence.

HUNTER: He said, we got to help Russia and deal with it on security issues, and she's talking about scrapping the ABM. The Clinton/Gore administration wants a limited, national missile defense. We agree on that. But we think we can get it without scrapping the ABM Treaty.

(CROSSTALK)

RICE: Bob, we didn't say scrap the ABM. We said that, want you want to do, is you want to convince the Russians that this is a new nuclear relationship, we are not going after their deterrent, but we are going to protect the American homeland. That's the first -- that's the most important thing for any American president.

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