Rumsfeld Says U.S. Will Not Violate 1972 ABM Treaty

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the United
States will not intentionally violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty while engaging in research, development or testing of a
proposed ballistic missile defense system.
"What we do know is that the Treaty prohibits ballistic missile
defense, and we do know what we're trying to do is research and
development and testing - not deployment yet, but testing - to
develop the capability to deploy ballistic missile defense," Rumsfeld
said July 12 during a press conference at a Frontiers of Freedom
Institute conference on missile defense.
But at some point, Rumsfeld said the testing program is going to "bump
up against" the 1972 Treaty between the United States and the former
Soviet Union. The Treaty prohibits the development and deployment of
nationwide defenses against long-range ballistic missiles, though it
does provide for very limited use of anti-ballistic missile defenses.
The Bush administration has proposed developing a working system of
land-based, sea-launched and airborne weapons to intercept long-range
ballistic missiles launched from smaller nations antagonistic to the
United States.
To achieve that, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said July 12,
the Pentagon has plans to begin construction next April to prepare for
new tests of a ground-based missile defense system at Fort Greely,
near Fairbanks, Alaska. The proposed test bed will include a command
center and five missile silos at Fort Greely, and five more silos on
Kodiak Island. And, the plan calls for upgrading radar systems in
Alaska and Aegis-shipboard radar systems to track long-range missiles.
Ten flight tests are planned for this year and next under an
accelerated schedule that involves ground-based missile interceptors,
according to the Pentagon.
Rumsfeld said the Bush administration is working to reach a new
understanding with the Russian government that would preclude
violating the 1972 Treaty. But he also said, "the Treaty is an
impediment" to a robust research and testing program.
"If we have not figured out a way to get beyond the Treaty during the
period immediately ahead when something evolves that we have to do, we
will not break the Treaty," he said. The United States and Russia will
have to achieve mutual agreement that will allow the United States to
continue its testing program, he said.
The Treaty does contain a provision that allows one of the signatories
to the Treaty to withdraw from it with six months' notification, he
said. "Now, is that going to happen," Rumsfeld asked. "No. I think
we're going to find a way to have a mutual understanding."
Rumsfeld also said the argument posed by some critics of the Bush
administration plans - that a ballistic missile defense system
creates instability among nations with nuclear weapons - "just falls
of its own weight. They threaten no one. They bother no one, except a
country that attempts - that thinks they want [to] have ballistic
missiles to impose their will on their neighbors. They're not
offensive, they are defensive."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)