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Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 08:58pm Jul 11, 2001 EST (#6946 of 6947)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD6822-24 rshowalter 7/10/01 7:48am

Pentagon to Seek Money for Testing Missile Defense by JAMES DAO http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/10/politics/10MISS.html

- Pentagon Study Casts Doubt on Missile Defense Schedule by JAMES DAO ....Members of Congress plan to make public a study that found testing of the missile defense program suffered too many failures to justify deploying the system in 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/25/politics/25MISS.html

" "It is a question that doesn't have an answer," said Amy Woolf, a defense specialist for the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan agency of Congress, when she was asked if building a test site at Fort Greely would violate the treaty.

" "Whatever we say, the Russians are likely to disagree with," Ms. Woolf added. "It's a question of how you want to handle the political fallout from that."

. A Delicate Nuclear Balance by ANATOL LIEVEN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/opinion/21LIEV.html

. Invitation to an Arms Race http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/20/opinion/20WED2.html

. Putin Says Russia Would Counter U.S. Shield by PATRICK E. TYLER http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/19/world/19RUSS.html

. Bush, Putin and the Missile Card http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/19/opinion/L19BUSH.html

. Just What Game Is Putin Playing? by PATRICK E. TYLER President Bush had seemed exuberant that he had created some momentum in Europe for his proposals when President Vladimir V. Putin shifted the ground under him. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/weekinreview/24TYLE.html

. Powell Dismisses Putin Warning on Missiles by THE NEW YORK TIMES .... Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is dismissing a warning from President Vladimir V. Putin that Russia will upgrade its nuclear weapon to counter the United States' missile shield. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/world/24POWE.html

"Some powerful Democrats, including Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee , have said they will oppose any defense appropriations that might violate the ABM Treaty. Mr. Levin's office said today that he had not received enough information about the Alaska proposal to know whether it would violate the treaty.

"In a sharp exchange during a committee hearing last month, .... Skeptical Senators Question Rumsfeld on Missile Defense by JAMES DAO http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/22/politics/22MILI.html .... Mr. Levin repeatedly asked Mr. Rumsfeld whether any action in the 2002 budget might violate the treaty. i Mr. Rumsfeld initially said no, but then qualified his answer.

" "One or more of the activities may — eventually will, the good Lord willing — run up against the treaty and be a violation," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

" "Before that happens," he continued, "we would have been in discussions with the Russians. And we fully intend that we would have fashioned some sort of a framework to move beyond the treaty."

This story ought to be evaluated in terms of the grossly inadequate technical performance of the missile defense programs. And in terms of frameworks that have not been fashioned.

Who benefits from stressing treaty relations for trivial and easily avoidable tests?

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