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2003 SESSION


HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 40
Urging the President of the United States to continue to take all actions necessary, directing the considerable scientific and technological capability of this great Union, to protect all 50 states and their people, our allies, and our armed forces abroad from the threat of missile attack.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 1, 2003

WHEREAS, Virginia, the Old Dominion, located in the upper South region of the United States and populated by more than 7,000,000 persons, is noted for its contribution to the founding of the United States through leadership and political thought, maintains distinguished centers of higher education and research, is the site of advanced information and defense technology, is the center of national naval force concentration, and is the foremost shipbuilder on its coast, while possessing natural endowments of mountains and forests on its western limits and agriculture on its southern tier; and

WHEREAS, the people of Virginia are conscious of these assets of the Old Dominion and desire a favorable future for their children and future generations; and

WHEREAS, Virginia provided leadership in the Revolutionary War, was the location of the surrender of Great Britain that ended it, and has contributed notably to national defense through its citizenry both in the military and industry ever since; and

WHEREAS, the people of Virginia are aware of the global proliferation of short-range, medium-range, and long-range ballistic missiles as weapons of mass destruction and their threat to our nation, our allies, and our armed forces abroad; and

WHEREAS, the United States does not possess an effective defense against such missiles launched by hostile states, by terrorist organizations within the borders of such states, or from ships anywhere on the world's seas and oceans, including near the coastal cities of America; and

WHEREAS, the President of the United States has withdrawn from the treaty with the now-extinct Soviet Union that prohibited effective American self-defense against ballistic missile attack and has announced the deployment of a ground-based and sea-based limited missile defense system by the year 2005 as a beginning toward a robust system that will be multilayered, meaning land, sea, air, and space interception components; and

WHEREAS, short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles launched from ships off the East Coast of the United States would be outside the protective reach of the Pacific Ocean-based and Alaska-based system, and the population of Virginia's Tidewater, as well as the preponderant national naval presence located there, are now vulnerable and will be still vulnerable to such a missile attack with warheads of mass destruction after planned deployment in 2005 of missile defenses in Alaska and California; and

WHEREAS, missile defense interceptors based in Alaska and California may not be able to protect the population of Virginia's Tidewater and other East Coast areas from long-range ballistic missiles launched from threatening states in the Middle East and North Africa; and

WHEREAS, the United States Navy has demonstrated its capability to use ships that can be based in Virginia's Tidewater area to intercept short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles while they are rising from their launchers, which could be on nearby ships, and this capability can be improved to intercept long-range ballistic missiles; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Virginia House of Delegates hereby urge the President of the United States to continue to take all actions necessary, directing the considerable scientific and technological capability of this great Union, to protect all 50 states and their people, our allies, and our armed forces abroad from the threat of missile attack; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Virginia House of Delegates hereby convey to the President of the United States and the United States Congress that an ocean-to-ocean, effective missile defense system will require the deployment of a robust, multilayered architecture consisting of integrated land-based, sea-based, air-based, and space-based capabilities to deter evolving future threats and to meet and destroy them when necessary; and

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Virginia House of Delegates urge the President of the United States and the United States Congress to plan and provide funding for a Tidewater Virginia and East Coast Test-bed activity, similar to the West Coast test activities in Alaska, California, and the Pacific Ocean, leading by 2005 to an East Coast sea-based defense--initially against ship-based short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and, with improvements, against ballistic missiles of all ranges launched from anywhere; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the House of Delegates of Virginia in this matter.