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The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President;

As the eighth anniversary of the Strategic Defense Initiative draws near, we commend your continued strong support for strategic defense and the promise it holds for future peace and stability. As you have correctly stated, the United States needs more to protect it than some abstract theory of deterrence.

In your State of the Union address, you touched upon your program for defending America and its allies from accidental or limited ballistic missile attack. Your concept of strategic defense, the Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS), is both realistic and affordable. Ambassador Hank Cooper and Assistant Secretary of Defense Steve Hadley have presented to Congress the basic details of GPALS, but you are the only one who can explain this concept to the American people and generate the public support required to get the program through Congress.

After witnessing the tremendous success of the Patriot missile in both Israel and Saudi Arabia, many Americans must be wondering why those populations are more worthy of anti-missile protection than they are. This window of opportunity must be put to good use. We therefore believe that a major effort to exert positive leadership on this issue, including a major presidential address on GPALS, should be launched on March 23, the anniversary or President Reagan's announcement of the SDI program.

The upcoming SDI debate in Congress can only be won if the American people are behind the program. And we trust that given the specifics of the Bush anti-missile defense plan, the American people will make the right decision.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Robert K. Dornan, M.C.
Jon Kyl, M.C.
Mel Hancock, M.C.
Duncan Hunter, M.C.
Henry Hyde, M.C.
Joel Hefley, M.C.