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DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MISSILE DEFENSE (L)
NUMBER=2-259191
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  A senior US defense official is warning a 
decision whether to deploy a national missile defense 
system should not be rushed.  Correspondent Nick 
Simeone reports the Pentagon may need to conduct more 
tests before a recommendation can be made to President 
Clinton by June.
TEXT:  Defense Secretary William Cohen is expected to 
recommend whether a nationwide, space-based shield 
capable of protecting Americans from long-range 
missile attacks can be built.  But his top deputy 
overseeing tests on the system warns the June deadline 
for a decision is putting unrealistic pressure on the 
project.
Even Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Hugh 
Shelton thinks the timetable may be rushing the 
project.  But he says development of such a system 
needs to go ahead because of the threat posed by a 
missile attack.
That threat increased in 1998 when North Korea stunned 
the world by test firing a missile over Japan -- 
fueling fears the United States and its allies might 
be vulnerable to missile attacks by rogue nations. 
The US missile defense system has suffered some set 
backs - including the failure of a test just last 
month. In theory, the satellite-guided system could 
protect the United States by sending a missile to 
intercept an incoming warhead before it reaches its 
target. But the technology has yet to prove reliable.
Tom Collina of the Union of Concerned Scientists is a 
leading critic of the missile defense shield. He 
doesn't think the system will ultimately prove worthy 
of its multi-billion dollar price tag. 
            /// COLLINA ACT ///
      The technology will not be mature by this summer 
      when we have the Clinton Administration decision 
      and certainly deploying a system that we don't 
      know whether it works is not worth the political 
      and financial downsides.
            /// END ACT ///
Those downsides extend to U-S relations with other 
major world powers.   Deploying the missile system 
would require amending the anti-ballistic missile 
treaty with Russia, something Moscow is against.   
China opposes the missile shield as well and is 
advocating a global treaty that would ban the use of 
weapons systems in space. (SIGNED) 
NEB/NJS/JO
15-Feb-2000 16:34 PM EDT (15-Feb-2000 2134 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.