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December 29, 2002
The Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 defense budget request
proposes a substantial increase in spending on missile defenses.
The Bush budget calls for fifty-seven percent more spending
on missile defense, from $5.3 billion in fiscal 2001, to a
proposed $8.3 billion for fiscal 2002. The chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin (D-Mich.), has
said he would seek to block funding for activities that would
unilaterally abrogate U.S. treaty commitments.
read more...
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Abrogating the ABM Treaty against the objections of most Europeans
makes a mockery of President Bush's pledge to 'consult' with
allies and with Russia on the missile defense issue. Consultation
should be a two-way process, as our security will be adversely
affected if the United States breaks its treaty commitments
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Rather than rush toward deployment of an unproven NMD system, President
Bush should redouble efforts to secure nuclear material in the former
Soviet Union, pursue deep, verifiable, U.S. and Russian nuclear
arms reductions, elimination of dangerous, Cold War launchonwarning
and targeting plans, and pursue a comprehensive nuclear proliferation
effort, including the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and
a verifiable freeze of North Korea's ballistic missile program.
read more...
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The plan outlined by the Pentagon would provide very
little protection should an attack occur. Even if the interceptor
and kill vehicle technology worked to some level of effectiveness
by 2004-2005, the system would use existing and relatively inadequate
radars that would have very little capability to discriminate the
warhead from other objects, including debris or simple decoys. Thus,
it could be fooled by very simple countermeasures...
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