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A recent controversy has arisen over whether vital U.S. military training will be permitted to continue -- as it has for the past 58 years--on the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques. As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, I bear a measure of responsibility for such training. I am working now to insure that the critical needs of the U.S. military are treated fairly and that the legitimate concerns of local officials and residents are properly addressed.

The Navy facility on Vieques is the only one in the Atlantic region -- there is one other on the island of San Clemente in the Pacific -- where Navy and Marine forces can practice live-fire ship-to-shore gunnery shelling, high altitude air-to-ground bombing and coordinated combat-like amphibious operations. As explained at a recent hearing of our subcommittee, such training is absolutely vital for the readiness of our forces. For instance, it was crucial to the success of our Navy pilots during the recent conflict in Yugoslavia.

It was also made clear that there are no obvious alternative sites at which the Navy can conduct this vital training for our Atlantic fleet forces due largely to environmental, airspace and shipping lane restrictions.

The current controversy stems from an April incident in which a Navy F-18 jet fighter accidentally dropped a bomb on the range observation post adjacent to the impact area, killing a security guard employed at the Navy facility. While this was the only such fatality to occur in the Navy’s 58 years on the island, it sparked renewed activism among political forces in Puerto Rico seeking a permanent halt to the Navy’s training activities on Vieques.

Since April, the Navy has temporarily suspended bombing and groups of local protesters have entered the facility, endangering themselves and others by handling unexploded ordnance. In August, I visited the island, observed the situation, and became increasingly concerned that these illegal trespassers were not being appropriately prosecuted and removed from the base. I wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno urging that the Justice Department take immediate steps to enforce the law which it is not now doing.

The protesters complain that 9,000 residents live within ten miles of live-fire practice shelling by five-inch guns and other armaments. Yet, as I pointed out at our hearing, this is not as unique or as problematic as it sounds. Right here in Lawton, Okla., more than 100,000 residents live within three miles of the impact area used by six-inch guns which fire regularly at Ft. Sill and they have learned to be good neighbors. I believe the Navy can address any legitimate concerns about its activities at Vieques and that all necessary military training can resume.

Ultimately, the President must decide how to resolve the issue. The critical question is the need to preserve this essential training for military readiness. Without it, the lives of our men and women in uniform are put in greater jeopardy and we risk greater casualties in any future conflict.

The Navy has just announced that the USS Dwight Eisenhower aircraft carrier battle group will deploy to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf at a much reduced state of readiness in February because it is now missing out on vital training at Vieques. This is a needlessly dangerous situation that cannot be allowed to continue.