Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
3/28/2014
The Department of Energy has dropped from its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request a laser-based protective force training system it had planned on providing to Russia due to concerns about the U.S. relationship with Moscow. The March 26 announcement from DOE Press Secretary Bill Gibbons came two days after 18 House Republicans called on the Obama Administration to halt the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) program due to simmering tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. The NNSA had planned to provide a protective force training system to Russia to help it strengthen its nuclear security efforts.
However, Gibbons said DOE’s decision to stop the program came before a March 24 letter from Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) and 16 other House Republicans to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “The FY15 budget request was developed long before the current situation with Russia unfolded,” Gibbons said in a statement. “While we appreciate the Members’ attention to this sensitive issue, as part of our own ongoing internal review of Russian-related activities, the Department has already determined that we will not be requesting funds for this project at this time.”
Lawmakers: Funding Would be a ‘Mistake’
In their letter to Moniz, the lawmakers said it would be a “mistake” to continue to provide the system to Russia after President Obama suspended military-to-military contact with Russia over Ukraine. “What message is sent if you stand behind this budget request—in essence, making a gift of military technology that makes its forces more lethal to a state with the means to launch an invasion of its neighbor after a failed attempt at a $15 billion bribe?” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers described the system as a “tactical force-on-force trainer” that “uses a system of lasers and dummy ammunition to simulate ground combat for soldiers.” Bridenstine said it is “ludicrous that U.S. taxpayers are paying to give Russia free military equipment after President Obama announced a suspension in military engagement with Moscow. It’s just another example of how the President is hanging on to his failed ‘reset with Russia’ policy despite Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine. I expect Secretary of Energy Moniz to act quickly and stop irresponsible military equipment transfers.”
Projected Cost of Program Was $1.9 Million
The lawmakers told Moniz to provide a list of all Fiscal Year 2015 NNSA funding that provides technology or services to Russia as well as an intelligence assessment of whether Russia could have other than nonproliferation uses for the technology. “Putin has proven that he has a brazen disregard for the sovereignty and stability of Eastern Europe and that he will continue to manipulate and disregard international law. Despite this overwhelming evidence that Putin is not our ally, it is astonishing that the Obama Administration would still provide superior, U.S. military technology to an aggressive and advancing Russia. The United States must seriously redirect its approach and immediately terminate all military aid to Russia,” Turner said.
The NNSA’s FY 2015 budget request included $305.5 million for the International Material Protection and Cooperation program, which provides security upgrades to countries around the world, including Russia and former Soviet states. The request included language indicating that the MILES equipment would be provided to eight Atomguard and MVD-IT training centers to “support effective protective force performance testing.” The cost of the program was $1.9 million, NNSA spokeswoman Keri Fulton said. Fulton said a review of the FY 2015 budget request for other potential issues in Russia-related funding is ongoing.
