DATE=6/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SENATE-MISSILE DEFENSE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263898
BYLINE=DAVID SWAN
DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The head of the American missile defense
program is denying allegations of fraud and rigged
test results, in advance of a crucial test next week.
If that exercise goes well, President Clinton may
decide to go ahead and deploy the system, but there
are doubts about whether it can be built on time. V-
O-A's David Swan reports.
TEXT: Even as political pressure to build the system
has grown, so have questions about whether it will
work by knocking incoming missiles out of the sky.
There have been reports the Pentagon orchestrated
tests to help an interceptor rocket distinguish real
targets from decoys. The director of the program,
(Air Force) General Ronald Kadish, vigorously rejected
the charges at a Senate hearing (Thursday).
/// Kadish Act ///
We take allegations of fraud and deception very
seriously. We investigate all of them to the
best of our ability and we have not found any
merit to those allegations.
/// End Act ///
The general says preparations are on track for next
week's (7/7) test, when an interceptor will try to
knock down a dummy warhead over the Pacific. The
long-term prospects for the system are far less clear.
Officials hope to have the first operational
interceptors ready by 2005, when missiles from places
like North Korea may be able to strike the continental
United States. But retired Air Force chief of staff
Larry Welch, who led a high-level expert review of the
program, says the timetable may be optimistic.
/// Welch Act ///
Do I believe it's feasible? Yes. Do I believe
that's the most likely (completion date)? No.
But if you were to say "well, if you don't think
2005 is the most likely, what do you think is
the most likely?" I don't have any advice to
offer.
/// End Act ///
Among other things, the project could be slowed by bad
weather on the remote Alaskan island where a key radar
station must be built. Beyond the technical issues,
critics also worry the plan would damage relations
with Russia, which argues the system would breach the
landmark Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Democratic
Senator Jack Reed suggests it would simply touch off a
new arms race.
/// Reed Act ///
What I recall from (studying) mechanics and
physics in college is that for each action
there's an equal and opposite reaction. If we
develop a national defense system, our
adversaries will develop something else,
particularly on the order of countermeasures.
/// End Act ///
The president says he will consider the likely
reaction from other countries when deciding whether to
press ahead with deployment. That decision is
expected sometime in the next several weeks.
(Signed)
NEB/DS/ENE/JP
29-Jun-2000 14:00 PM EDT (29-Jun-2000 1800 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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