Space

DATE=7/12/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PENTAGON/MISSILE DEFENSE (L-O)

NUMBER=2-278161

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Pentagon is planning to move ahead with new missile-defense construction that senior officials acknowledge could soon breach the terms of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. More from Correspondent Alex Belida at the Pentagon.

TEXT: The Bush administration has made no secret of its intention to either revise the A-B-M treaty by negotiation or to withdraw from it altogether.

Now a senior Pentagon official has made clear to Congress the administration's new and more aggressive missile-defense testing plans could lead to an early conflict with the pact.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss the Pentagon's request for substantial new funding for missile defense research.

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As the program develops and the various testing activities mature, one or more of those will inevitably bump up against treaty restrictions and limitations. Such an event is likely to occur in months, rather than in years.

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But Mr. Wolfowitz says it is not possible to know with certainty how soon a conflict will occur, because of both research and legal uncertainties.

The ambitious U-S missile defense test plan includes the construction of new facilities in Alaska, where defense planners envision eventual deployment of an operational ground-based missile interceptor system.

The administration effort is described as limited, intended to protect the United States against possible missile attack by a rogue state such as North Korea or Iraq.

Nevertheless, it has drawn criticism from Russia, China and some NATO allies who fear a new arms race. Some members of Congress have also voiced concerns about the missile-defense program.

One complaint by Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, dealt with the lack of detail in the Pentagon's plans.

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The administration's plans for missile defense for fiscal year 2002 have been harder to zero in on than a target in a missile defense test.

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The Pentagon has scheduled a full-scale interceptor test for this Saturday. A so-called - kill vehicle - will be fired from a Pacific Atoll in an attempt to destroy a ballistic missile launched from California.

Two of the three previous similar tests failed to result in an interception. (SIGNED)

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