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Summary:
Successive U.S. administrations have urged the creation of an anti-missile system to protect against threats from rogue states. The Bush Administration believes that North Korea and Iran are strategic threats and questions whether they can be deterred by conventional means. The Administration has built long-range missile defense bases in Alaska and California to protect against North Korean missiles. The system has been tested, with mixed results, and questions have been raised about its effectiveness. The Administration has proposed deploying a ground-based mid-course defense (GMD) element of the larger Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) in Europe to defend against the threat of long-range missiles from Iran. The system would include 10 interceptors in Poland, a fixed radar installation in the Czech Republic, and another forward deployed radar elsewhere in the region, but closer to Iran. Deployment of the European GMD capability is scheduled to be completed by 2013 at a cost of $4.04 billion. The proposed U.S. system has encountered resistance in some European countries and beyond. Critics in Poland and the Czech Republic assert that neither country currently faces a notable threat from Iran, but that if American GMD facilities were installed, both countries might be targeted by missiles from rogue states -- and possibly from Russia. Some Europeans claim that GMD is another manifestation of American unilateralism, and assert that the Bush Administration did not consult sufficiently with NATO allies or with Russia, which the Administration argues was not the case. Other European leaders, however, including those of Denmark and Britain, have indicated they support the missile defense project to protect Europe. NATO has also been deliberating long-range missile defense, and has recently taken actions that have been interpreted as an endorsement of the American GMD system. The GMD plan has also affected U.S.-Russia relations. In early 2007, Russian President Putin argued that the proposal would reignite the arms race and upset U.S.Russian-European security relations. U.S. officials have dismissed Russian objections, noting that Moscow has known of this plan for years and has been invited to participate. They maintain that the interceptors are intended to take out missiles aimed at Europe or the United States and could not possibly act as a deterrent against Russia. On June 7, 2007, however, Putin offered to cooperate on missile defense, suggesting that a Russian radar become part of the program. President Bush welcomed the apparent policy shift, and representatives of the two countries will discuss the proposal. Russian cooperation in missile defense could remove an impediment to the program and dampen criticism by European leaders. It may have helped prompt reexamination of the program by NATO. Congress has examined the proposed European GMD proposal. Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees made recommendations that would significantly slow down the effort. This report will be updated as events warrant.
