Sen. Inhofe cites Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty's letter opposing L.O.S.T. in crucial hearing

At a June 14, 2012 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) cited a letter by a distinguished group of retired senior U.S. military leaders — who earned between them 33 stars — voicing strong concerns that ratification of the United Nations convention would be detrimental to the national interests of the United States.

Mr. Inhofe read directly from the letter — sponsored by Center President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. of the Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty — respectfully noting the 33 cumulative stars earned by the retired signatories, compared to the active duty panel testifying in favor of the treaty whom Committee Chairman John Kerry dubbed "The 24-star Panel."

The letter, which was distributed to the Foreign Relations Committee prior to the hearing and featured in a full-page ad in The Hill newspaper, states in part:

“Much is being made at the moment of the support of the U.S. military for the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). In your Foreign Relations Committee hearings to date, you have invited testimony from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and six other serving four-star commanders. We wish respectfully to challenge the perception that military personnel uniformly support this accord by expressing our strongly held belief that LOST’s ratification would prove inimical both to the national security interests and sovereignty of the United States.”

The full text of the letter and a list of signatories is available here.

Video of Senator Inhofe’s remarks follows: