Non-Subscriber Extract
Clinton hands NMD decision to successor
- Article Tools
| 01 September 2000 |
BRYAN BENDER JDW Bureau Chief
Washington DC
US President Bill Clinton has decided to forego deployment of a National Missile Defense (NMD) system in the face of continuing technical challenges and solid opposition from countries around the world, leaving the controversial issue to his successor.
"A National Missile Defense, if deployed, should be part of a larger strategy to preserve and enhance the peace, strength and security we now enjoy, and to build an even safer world," said Clinton. "I have tried to maximise the ability of the next president to pursue that strategy."
After a series of Department of Defense reviews of the technical maturity of the ground-based system designed to hit and kill enemy warheads in space; the system's cost; the strategic implications of moving ahead with the first nation-wide missile shield that would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia; and the nature of the ballistic missile threat, Clinton decided not to initiate the construction of a key NMD radar site in Alaska.
Clinton said, "I simply cannot conclude with the information I have today that we have enough confidence in the technology, and the operational effectiveness of the entire NMD system, to move forward to deployment.
"Therefore, I have decided not to authorize deployment of a national missile defense at this time. Instead, I have asked Secretary Cohen to continue a robust program of development and testing. That effort still is at an early stage. Only three of the 19 planned intercept tests have been held so far. We need more tests against more challenging targets, and more simulations before we can responsibly commit our nation's resources to deployment."
Officials said construction of the radar had to begin in early 2001 in order to deploy an initial NMD system by 2005, when intelligence officials warn that countries of concern such as North Korea, Iran and Iraq could deploy ballistic missiles, possibly carrying nuclear, chemical or biological warheads, capable of reaching the USA.
The NMD programme is expected to continue with its series of increasingly realistic intercept tests and the development of a new booster rocket. The final decision when and how to deploy a national shield, in its current form or an alternative, will now rest with the new US president, set to take office in January 2001.
Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore supports an eventual deployment of the current system while Republican candidate George Bush has called for a more comprehensive system, including perhaps missile defence ships at sea and missiles capable of defeating enemy missile in their ascent, or boost phase, and said he would deploy it with or without a revised ABM Treaty and the support of foreign nations.