PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

"Attention: Vieques"

In his "Navy" essay in the January 2001 Almanac of Seapower, columnist Tom Philpott, a knowledgeable and well-respected defense writer, reported that Navy aircraft carrier battle groups (CVBGs) now being deployed overseas to potential areas of crisis--the Persian Gulf, for example--have been arriving in-theater "significantly less prepared" for combat than they would have been if they had had the opportunity, prior to deployment, to conduct live-fire combined-arms training on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico.

As members of the Navy League well know, the CVBGs and other Navy task forces have not been able to carry out such training for almost two years. The training was suspended following the tragic death of a civilian security guard who was killed by a mis-aimed bomb in April 1999. Just over a year ago, then-President Bill Clinton reached an agreement with Pedro Rossello, governor of Puerto Rico at the time, that would permit resumption of the training--but with numerous restrictions. No explosive ordnance could be used--inert ordnance only. The Navy would be limited to only 90 days of Vieques training per year. There were several other rules and restraints imposed on the Navy and the nation's other armed services, and a generous package of economic benefits for the residents of Vieques was included in the agreement. The most important provision of the agreement calls for a referendum later this year by the citizens of Vieques on the Navy's continued use of the firing ranges on the island. If the residents of Vieques do not approve the Navy's continued training on Vieques in the referendum, which is scheduled for 6 November, the Navy will have to vacate Vieques permanently on or before 1 May 2003.

There are a myriad of other issues that are perhaps greater in magnitude and of longer-term significance that the Navy will have to deal with in the years ahead. But let there be no doubt about it: The potential loss of the firing ranges on Vieques is the most serious single problem the Navy faces today.

Making matters worse, Sila M. Calderon, the new governor of Puerto Rico, has denounced the Clinton/Rossello agreement and seems determined to force the Navy out of Vieques no matter what the island's citizens have to say about the matter.

The Navy's senior leaders--including Adm. Robert J. Natter, commander in chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet (interviewed in this issue of Sea Power)--have been unanimous in affirming that there is absolutely no substitute for the live-fire training that the Navy has been carrying out at Vieques for more than 50 years. There are various "work-arounds" and technological substitutes, including simulators, but none of them come close to the much more realistic training provided in the combined-arms live-fire exercises that can be carried out at Vieques and nowhere else in the entire Atlantic region.

Fortunately, there is good reason to believe that the residents of Vieques would in fact approve the 6 November referendum--which, as indicated above, would ensure the economic prosperity of the island for many years to come. In addition, President Bush said both during last year's election campaign and several times since then that he supports and would carry out the Clinton/Rossello agreement.

I have written to Governor Calderon, asking her to refrain from taking any unilateral action that not only would cause irreversible economic harm to the citizens of Vieques (and to Puerto Rico as a whole if the U.S. Navy's base at Roosevelt Roads also is closed) but also would put the lives of American Sailors and Marines in jeopardy. The Navy League's headquarters sent Governor Calderon a well-documented fact sheet that rebuts the numerous false allegations and sometimes outrageous propaganda circulated by those who have been campaigning against the Navy's continued use of Vieques. In addition, a much more complete and updated report on the Vieques situation will be included in the April issue of Sea Power. (Included in that report will be an update on similar problems the Navy is encountering in the Pacific that threaten to terminate or severely limit the Navy's Pacific Fleet training on San Clemente Island off southern California and Farallon de Medinilla Island north of Saipan.)

The preceding and other actions taken at the NLUS headquarters level should help. But what is now needed--urgently and immediately--is grassroots support from throughout the entire United States. I therefore ask all Navy League councils and all individual members of the Navy League to write, e-mail, or fax their Senators and Representatives pointing out the need for the Vieques training and asking for their support. Whatever you do, please send copies to President Bush and to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. I would appreciate it if you would also send me a copy as well. Mark it "Attention: Vieques."

Thank you in advance for what may well be the most important thing you do for our country this year.