former US Defence Secretary Mr. Richard (Dick) Cheney said yesterday.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette after addressing the annual convention of the Pennyslvania Bankers Association at the Southampton Princess, Mr. Cheney said the US Naval Air Station at St. David's and the US Naval Annex in Southampton "were an important part of our over-all operations at one time.'' The Annex is closed and the Naval Air Station is set to close on September 1.

"You've got to cut back somewhere,'' Mr. Cheney said.

The main role of NAS Bermuda was anti-submarine warfare, and the Russian Navy was nearly "shut down,'' he said. But that could change.

"In a crisis, if we ever got into a major problem, it would be possible to seek approval to use those (Bermuda) facilities again,'' Mr. Cheney said.

In his speech, the man who led the Pentagon during Operation Desert Storm in 1990 warned that the US was in danger of cutting back its defence forces too far. And he expressed concerns that America was "turning inward.'' When trimming defence forces, "we always go too far,'' said Mr. Cheney, who recently dropped plans to run for President. "We cut too fast. We're too eager to harvest that peace dividend and bring the boys home.'' In real terms, the US defence budget had shrunk each year since 1985, said Mr.

Cheney, who took credit for $350 billion in cuts to the long-term budget during his tenure under former President George Bush. The American force was 30 percent smaller than during the height of the Cold War, and the percentage of the national budget spent on the military had fallen to 15 percent, from 60 percent in the Korean War.

"It's absolutely essential for us to stay actively and aggressively involved in the affairs of the world,'' Mr. Cheney said.

And an adequate military force had to be maintained in peacetime, "in preparation for the next time we go to war. Unfortunately, there will be a next time, there always is.'' It took many years to create top fighting forces, "but you can destroy them overnight''.

"I think we've taken the whole concept of cutting back on the military as far as we can,'' he said. "The danger is that we've already gone too far.'' There were some who thought the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable, and was not in part due to US military build-up and the policy of containment over the last 50 years. "That's hogwash,'' he said.

Others felt the United States had done its part, and now it was time for someone else to "accept the responsibility'' of defending democracy.

But who? Mr. Cheney asked. "The Brits? They're great allies. They're always with us when we need them. But they were over-extended when they took on Argentina in the Falklands in 1982.'' Defence cuts must not go too far The French and the Germans were not up to the task, either, he said. "The bottom line is there isn't anyone else out there who has the trust and confidence of the rest of the world, and who has the power and moral authority to do what the United States has done for the last 50 years.'' Another common misconception was that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was "nothing to worry about,'' Mr. Cheney said.

In the former Soviet republics, Americans were witnessing "a revolution in progress'' that could last decades. When it is all over, "we have no idea who will be in charge, or what principles will govern them.'' Meanwhile, "there is considerable cause for concern,'' Mr. Cheney said. He did not think Americans should take comfort from the recent "abysmal'' performance of Russian forces in Chechnya.

"This is the same group in charge of the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons,'' he said. The Russians and others in the former Soviet Union would "sort out their problems on top of 30,000 nukes.'' Reports from Europe last summer that the US had four times intercepted small amounts of weapons-grade plutonium that originated in the former Soviet Union were distressing.

"Some of that material is now circulating in the international black marketplace. Whether it's authorised or unauthorised, the concerns remain the same.

"The world is full of individuals and nations that would like to get their hands on some of that material.'' Mr. Cheney said he did not believe the US needed the military force it had in the mid-1980s. But after the Second World War and the Vietnam War, America had cut back too far, too fast.

From Congressional approval to battle-readiness, it recently took nine years to launch the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln , he noted. "That's twice as long as it took us to win World War II.'' Mr. Richard Cheney