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Sen. WARNER. During the deliberation of the present legislation, I participated with the senior Senator from Wyoming, and our goal was to indicate that the Senate of the United States felt ever so strongly that as we begin to approach the next chapter of theater defensive systems, we should recognize that the ABM Treaty should not be an impediment, ABM which was signed in May of 1972 at a time when no one envisioned this whole new range of weapons and the proliferation of weapons that can be utilized in the theater operations where our troops are in advanced positions in theater operations with ballistic trajectory.

The senior Senator from Wyoming and I worked together, and through his leadership we were able to craft, with the assistance of the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee and several others, a resolution to our amendment which in my judgment exceeded our original goals in terms of the purpose of the amendment to convey the sentiment of this Chamber to those in the administration that will be soon studying the relationship between the ABM Treaty and theater ballistic systems.

It is clear that at the time the ABM Treaty was drawn up in 1972, no one ever envisioned the proliferation of these systems today and, therefore, that treaty should not be an impediment in any way to unleashing the brains in this country and elsewhere to develop the best possible deterrent to those threatening systems.

In the judgment of this Senator, the strategic ballistic missiles are now in a fairly fixed position. They are the subject of a series of treaties. But the theater ballistic missiles are now proliferating and become, in my judgment, one of the most serious if not the most serious threat posed against our troops, our national security, particularly, when you can devise rather simply a variety of warheads to inflict damage of mass destruction should they ever be used.

We learned in the gulf war the simplicity of the Scud system. We learned in the gulf war the difficulty of tracking down the source of the Scud. We learned the difficulty of taking the Scud out. Further, nationally we had really our first generation of theater defense to do what we could to defend against that system.

So, Mr. President, I shall miss our colleague and I shall also do my very best working with other Senators to take his place, particularly as it relates to those issues on national security about which he felt so sincerely. I wish him well in his next challenge.

I yield the floor.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.

SENATOR MALCOLM WALLOP

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, before I send an amendment to the desk, let me just say that I share with the friends from Wyoming and Virginia their comments about Senator Wallop. He has been on the Armed Services Committee. We have worked together. He was my ranking member for 2 years until he rejoined Finance last year. We worked together extremely well, always cordially. We disagreed on SDI and a number of other issues, but that never got in the way of the warm and open relationship. And I, too, shall miss the directness that he always brought to his job.

While we disagreed, again, probably as often as we agreed, that did not stand in the way of my admiration for the quality, the characteristic that he had of letting you know precisely where he stood and why. And his patriotism is second to none in this body. We, too, shall miss him personally as he returns to Wyoming.

SENATOR MALCOLM WALLOP

Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, there will be a time in the future where we will all have an opportunity to speak of our friend and colleague, Senator Wallop. But, since I am here on the floor at this time, managing a bill that Senator Wallop had so much to do with over the years, I thought it would be appropriate just to say I was saddened to hear that he was leaving but happy for his family, as I know he will be pursuing other goals. He is still going to be here for quite some time, obviously, until 1995.