Soviet Military Threat Still Lingers, Cheney Declares

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, laying the groundwork for the Pentagon’s forthcoming $295-billion budget request, warned Monday of a continued Soviet military threat to Western Europe and declared that American forces must remain strong to “help shield the democracies against the possibility that the current favorable climate will be reversed.”

In a speech peppered with partisan language, Cheney said that the Western allies’ resolve to stand up against the Soviets “was much stronger than appeared to the merchants of malaise”--a reference to the Jimmy Carter Administration--and said this resolve helped bring about changes in Soviet behavior.

In comments prepared for delivery at Houston’s Forum Club, Cheney called on the Western allies to maintain their strength in the face of the Soviets’ “vast military resources,” including 17 Soviet divisions that remain in East Germany.

Cheney’s remarks come as the Bush Administration prepares to unveil its 1991 defense budget request on Capitol Hill later this month--a blueprint that would shrink the Pentagon budget, after accounting for inflation, by 2% yearly for the next five years.

Many lawmakers, noting that the Pentagon budget has been declining by an average of 2% after inflation since 1985, have called for a far greater “peace dividend” in light of the dramatic changes sweeping Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

Since more than 50% of the U.S. defense budget traditionally has been devoted to the defense of Western Europe, many analysts believe there are much bigger savings to be gained now that the military threat to Western Europe has faded.

Cheney has said that by demonstrating his willingness to make reductions, he hopes to lead lawmakers in a nonpartisan debate on defense priorities and to forestall deeper cuts.

At the same time, in preparing to defend his spending plans, the defense chief is using many of the same rhetorical devices of his predecessors, including references to a Soviet military threat that many analysts now consider exaggerated.

Launching the opening salvo of what is expected to be this year’s most controversial debate on Capitol Hill, Cheney rejected Democrats’ claims that cuts in defense spending will provide significant savings that can be applied to other government programs.

“Some defense critics, apparently astonished by this change (in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe), seem to suggest that the U.S. had better take the money and run--offer unilateral cuts in our force strength, cash in the so-called peace dividend and come home,” said Cheney.

“But I would suggest instead (that) . . . peace is the dividend,” he added. “ . . . If a strong force structure is needed to keep the peace, it is even more important to promote the climate of stability in which further positive change can occur.”