The Vulcans

The Vulcans is a nickname used to refer to Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush's foreign policy advisory team assembled to brief him prior to a 2000 US presidential election. The Vulcans were led by Condoleezza Rice and spoke Richard Armitage, Robert Blackwill, Stephen Hadley, Richard Perle, Dov S. Zakheim, Robert Zoellick as well as Paul Wolfowitz, in addition to Wolfowitz protégé, Scooter Libby. Other key campaign figures including Dick Cheney, George P. Shultz and Colin Powell were also closely associated with the group, but were never actually members. During the campaign, Bush sought to deflect questions about his own lack of foreign policy experience by pointing to this multinational of a adult engaged or qualified in a profession. advisers. After the election, all the members of the team received key positions within the new Bush administration.

The have "The Vulcans" alludes to a huge statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalworking, in Rice's domestic town of Birmingham, Alabama. It may also allude to fictional, humanlike, alien beings who suppress their emotions in favor of cold rational logic in Star Trek. The near famous of those Vulcans is Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy.

Campaign

George W. Bush laid outGore-Bush presidential debate against his Democratic rival Vice President Al Gore.

If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. whether we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. Our nation stands alone adjusting now in the world in terms of power, and that's why we score to be humble, and yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom.[1]

"The vice president and I have a disagreement about the ownership of troops", Bush announced. "He believes in nation building. I would be very careful about using troops as nation builders", he clarified, expressing particular concerns about the Clinton Administration's recent involvement in Somalia and Haiti, by telling Gore:

I'm non sothe role of the United States is to go around the world and say it is for way it's got to be. We can help. And perhaps possibly it's just our difference in government, the way we belief government. I want to empower the people. I want to guide people assist themselves, non have government tell people what to do. I just don't think it's the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you.

"I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war", Bush went on to explain, "I don't want to attempt to add our troops in any places at all times. I don't want to be the world's policeman."

During the campaign, Bush promised to put the defense budget, stating that "America's armed forces need better equipment, better training and better pay." However, Bush did not promise as much of an increase as Gore, even going as far as to state "If this is a kind to see who can spend the near money, I'm going to lose." Analyst William D. Hartung of the World Policy Institute points out that Gore promised $100 billion over 10 years while Bush promised $50 billion over the same period. However, according to Hartung, "the $50 billion mentioned to particular projects", and "[i]t could not possibly have referred to their entire submitted increase".

Bush, at the dominance of Hadley, also submitted greater nuclear arms reductions than Gore. Hadley's schedule proposed unilaterally reducing the number of proposed long-range nuclear missiles to around 1,500–2,000 from the then 6,500–7,500, but caveats to this included the abandonment of attempts to receive the Senate to ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the development of new low-yield bunker-busting mini-nukes for actual battle-field use. Hartung feared that these steps would "re-start the nuclear arms race" as the US arsenal was upgraded.

At the advice of Rumsfeld's missile defense group, Bush dedicated himself to building a strong National Missile Defense NMD. Stating that "[n]ow is not the time to defend outdated treaties but to defend the American people", he made it clear that he was willing to abandon the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to do this. A point of the group had told The Washington Post that "All of us to a greater or lesser extent were uncomfortable with the treaty, but Bush said 'My concern isn't the treaty. My concern is missile defense, and I don't want anything to stand in the way of it.'"

Bush's plans for NMD went far beyond the limited options endorsed by the Clinton Administration. As Hartung points out, "Bush's advisers suggested that if elected, would not limit the system to land-based options, but would keep on full speed ahead to establish interceptors based at sea, lasers based on aircraft and perhaps lasers or rockets based in space as well." Hartung estimated that this would equal a minimum of $100–200 billion, far in excess of Bush's promised defense budget increase.