THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407160277
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN DIAMOND, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
The United States should eliminate all its nuclear weapons, a top Air Force general said Friday in a sharp break from Pentagon orthodoxy.
Gen. Charles A. Horner, head of the U.S. Space Command, said the nation would secure ``the high moral ground'' worldwide while losing little militarily by eliminating its nuclear arsenal.
``The nuclear weapon is obsolete,'' Horner said at a breakfast meeting with defense reporters. ``I want to get rid of them all.''
Horner made clear he was ``talking long-term'' and said nuclear disarmament should only take place if other nuclear powers, especially Russia, go along.
Still, the comments from one of the military's most senior officers run counter to the Clinton administration view that the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal can be reduced but not eliminated entirely.
Horner, as head of one of the military's nine ``unified commands,'' reports directly to the secretary of defense. His command covers military satellite operations and ballistic missile defense efforts, among other things.
Horner leads the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is responsible for defending the United States and Canada from a nuclear attack.
``I want to go to zero and I'll tell you why: If we and the Russians can go to zero nuclear weapons, then think what that does for us in our efforts to counter the new war,'' Horner said.
The new military threat comes from smaller, less stable countries that obtain weapons of mass destruction, Horner said.
``Think of the high moral ground we secure by having none,'' said Horner, who plans to retire soon. ``It's kind of hard for us to say to North Korea, `You are terrible people, you're developing a nuclear weapon,' '' when the United States has thousands of them. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Air Force Gen. Charles A. Horner, head of the U.S. Space Command,
says eliminating nuclear weapons would help the United States take
the moral high ground in its efforts to reduce nuclear
proliferation.
by CNB