And the famous NIE 95-19 (regarding Emerging Missile Threats to US Security) provided to the Congress in such a politicized manner that CIA Director John Deutch had to publicly apologize and in one of the only times in American history an NIE was redone largely because Congress created the bi-partisan Rumsfeld Commission to independently assess emerging threats to the US mainland.

While doing everything possible to keep Yeltsin in power, the Clinton/Blair NATO ‘air-deployment bombing debacle’ to remove Milosovic from power in Serbia in the late 90’s caused Europe to erupt by its dismal failure to succeed and arrogance in denying any role for Russia in the effort. At the exact same time as Yeltsin was being impeached in Moscow, a bipartisan group of 11 Members of Congress joined a similar bipartisan group of Russian lawmakers in Vienna, to do what neither White House could do – lay out a bilateral approach with Russia’s support to end the Balkan War and remove Milosevic from power.

With a decade of White House denial, denial, denial and appeasement in our US/Russia relationship, Congress was the steadfast follower of the Reagan approach to US/Russia relations – Be Strong, Be Consistent and Be Candid!

As the new decade approached and new hopes for US/Russia cooperation were energized by the new leadership of Vladimir Putin – again Congress went into action, especially after witnessing Putin’s outreach to Bush – even before Bush won the Republican nomination from the Republican Party.

In July of 2000, then Leader of the State Duma and Russian Chair of Duma/Congress (who also happened to be Putin’s Campaign Manager) Boris Grzyzlov, called me and asked if I could assist him in having a Putin Delegation attend the Republican National Convention. Putin wanted to show support for his desire and top priority to dramatically change the relationship between Russia and the US for the better.

Requests to obtain official credentials for the new Russian Leader’s Representative fell on deaf ears as the RNC instead handpicked Russian Leaders who had no stature and who were not in power. Because the RNC Convention in 2000 was in Philadelphia (my hometown) and because we had created a Mustin Congressional Village (directly adjacent to the Convention site) where 100 Members of Congress and their families were going to reside the entire week of the Convention, I invited Gryzlov and his 6 Member entourage to join us for the entire week. Gryzlov, Federation Council Leader Misha Margelov and the Number One Russian TV Station Crew lived with 100 Members of Congress and our families for the entire week – eating meals together, recreating together and reporting back daily to the Russian people that Putin wanted a new US/Russia relationship.

Putin took a risk, and I am certain ‘hardliners’ back in Moscow were admonishing him for being stupid and naïve to think that America – and Bush – wanted a new positive bilateral collaboration. For those of in Congress, we were ecstatic – a new opportunity was emerging that offered a new hope for a bilateral relationship with Russia based on the Reagan doctrine of strength, consistency and candor.

One must remember that, at this point in time, Putin was a political novice – strong on KGB traits – but who desperately desired political guidance and a partnership with the man and Party whom he thought would control our country in 2001. The opportunity was enormous because at this very same time, the Russian economy was stagnant and struggling.

We, in the Congress, were elated and excited to show our support for these two new leaders who could really ‘change the world’. As a Republican who had campaigned hard for Bush, I was excited about our prospects for a new era in US/Russia relations and a new era in world stability.

Putin jumped in immediately -- and was quickly joined by Bush – as summits occurred in America and Russia. Putin did the unthinkable – the first world leader to call Bush after 9/11 was Vladimir Putin and his offer left cold warriors speechless. This former KGB Officer offered us unequivocal support – intelligence, assets and the use of former Soviet military bases for our work to be done against the 9/11 aggressors. It really struck me when I stayed with our troops forward deployed at bases in Uzbekistan and met with our troops in an old Soviet base in Georgia.

I remember asking the State Department for a listing of all programs that had been operating between the people of the US and Russia for the previous 30 years, including the Soviet days. To my surprise and chagrin, the State Department had no such list, so we in the Congress did what we had been doing for the previous 13 years.

We assembled a group of the most distinguished US/Russian experts to assemble an inventory of US/Russia formal initiatives focusing on 11 key areas including agriculture, energy, environment, security, health care, education, natural resources, etc. The experts included the likes of Sam Nunn, Dick Lugar, Graham Allison, Bruce Weinrod, Sven Kramer, Leon Aron, Ariel Cohen and organizations including the Carnegie Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, Jamestown Foundation, Aspen Institute, Eurasia Institute, East/West Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center among others.

Within two months we completed a comprehensive 8 page inventory listing over 100 NGO’s and long-standing organizations focused on one or more of the 11 key areas of US/Russia people to people cooperation. From this list, the Group developed a 48-page document listing over 100 recommendations for new or expanded programs bringing the people and the institutions of the US and Russia together – most requiring no new public funding just vocal support from the White House. Entitled ‘New Time – New Beginning’ the document was printed and funded with private money – no public funds were used. At the same time, our Russian Colleagues reviewed, added and developed the same document printed in Russian.

One week before the first meeting of Bush and Putin in Texas, I went to the Senate floor seeking support for the document. With the Senate controlled by the Democrats, I only sought (and received) three signatures of support that first day – Chairman Joe Biden, Ranking Republican Dick Lugar and Chairman Carl Levin. Back to the House Floor I received overwhelming support from both Parties - almost 1/3 of the House signed in just two days including Dick Armey, Henry Hyde, Jack Murtha, Ellen Tauscher, Chris Cox, Dennis Kucinich, John Spratt but also current Members of the House and Senate including Bernie Sanders, Mike Pence, Mac Thornberry, Roger Wicker, John Thune, Fred Upton, Ed Royce, Shelley Moore Capito, Bob Goodlatte, Marci Kaptur, Alcie Hastings, Ed Markey, Sam Farr, Susan Davis, John Larson, Danny Davis and Frank Pallone among others.

In Moscow, the Russian Leaders bought in overwhelmingly – resolutions of support from the State Duma and Federation Council were joined by a unanimous Resolution passed by the Russian Academy of Social Sciences. I remember well the vote in the Academy of Social Sciences after vigorous questioning of me by the likes of former Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh and longtime Communist Party leader Gennady Zuganov.

We had made a strong statement that the legislative bodies and leaders in both nations were ready for a substantive change. But that change required committed and substantive White House and Administration support. Putin and Russia were so enamored with the possibility of a new US/Russia collaboration that Putin’s Representative to the State Duma and Federation Council Alexander Kotenkov proposed a new second tier bilateral initiative to implement the strategic plan. Working with Congressman/Senator David Vitter’s lifelong local DA friend, we engaged with Kotenkov to create a new platform – I steered them to DC Attorney Charles Peterson (who had worked with our agencies) to develop an acceptable working model.

To test the sincerity and legitimacy of the Putin/Kotenkov Initiative and to test the ability to obtain our desired results through this Initiative, I set up three challenges for the Kotenkov Team. Our first request was a meeting in the Lubyanka Office of Felix Dzerzhinsky, longtime feared Director of the KGB. State Department Officials laughed at my staff when they were informed that we might have a meeting in the Lubyanka in Dzerzhinsky’s Office.

On our next Delegation visit to Moscow, our ambassador called me in my hotel room and asked if he could attend the meeting at Lubyanka as his office had been informed would occur. The next day the ambassador picked me up in his car and my Delegation followed us into the Lubyanka and proceeded to the Office of the Director of the FSB. Our meetings in the Lubyanka with Russian Leaders were substantive as we were told that if we followed the process offered by Kotenkov and ultimately agreed to by American attorney Charles Peterson, the US would receive access to all security concerns. The Kotenkov Team had passed the first test.

Our second challenge was to visit a top secret Russian facility (that we would name) involved in chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and technology. We were provided signed approvals for our Delegation to visit dozens of Russian Chemical and biological sites. After conferring with US Intel leaders, we requested permission instead to visit the most sensitive underground nuclear site inside a mountain at the closed city of Zalezhnogorsk along the Yenessee River where the USSR had constructed three large plutonium producing reactors as well as a massive storage site for weapons grade plutonium.