Missile Defense

WASHINGTON -- Two military tests in widely separated deserts, one a chilling success and the other a persistent failure, have contributed the latest evidence to both sides of a recurring 15-year-old debate: Should the United States deploy a high-tech umbrella of killer satellites that will shield the states from incoming ballistic missiles?Ever since Ronald Reagan advanced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposal for a space-based national missile-defense program that was dubbed "star wars," the question has alternated between the political wings and center stage every few years, catching the imagination of lawmakers, think tanks and presidential hopefuls.

MOSCOW - Undersecretary of State John Bolton said last night that "a vast open space" still exists for an agreement with Russia on joint development of a limited defense against ballistic missiles, but that the time for such an accord is running out. Bolton denied, however, that he had issued an unofficial deadline of November for reaching such an agreement. The New York Times reported yesterday, based on excerpts from an interview with a Moscow radio station, that Bolton had indicated the United States would declare its intention to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty unless Russia agreed to changes by November.

ROME -- As President Bush received an endorsement yesterday in Poland for placing missile interceptors there, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin presented a second alternative in two days for where the U.S. should install the missile-defense system. The Russian president, speaking at a news conference at the end of Group of Eight summit, said the interceptors could be located in Turkey, or perhaps in Iraq or at sea. A day earlier, he caught U.S. officials by surprise in suggesting that an existing Russian-run radar system in Azerbaijan be used to protect Europe from a possible attack by Iran.

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on important roll-call votes last week: Y: Yes N: No X: Not votingHouse: SteelVoting 289 for and 141 against, the House passed a bill (HR 975) that would limit steel imports into the United States so they account for no more than 25 percent of the U.S. market. Imports from a specific country would be capped at their average monthly volume for a three-year period ending July 1997. The administration could use tariffs, quotas or negotiations to enforce the limits.

The nation took a step toward achieving a ballistic missile defense yesterday when the Army's THAAD missile system managed to knock a target rocket out of the sky after missing on six previous tests.The success also boosted morale at contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., which confessed to worsening financial problems this week and had been tainted by the repeated THAAD failures."They lost a lot of credibility," said financial analyst Paul Nisbet of JSA Research Inc. "They needed some good news for a change."

BILLS passed by the House and Senate to concoct a defense against single intercontinental ballistic missiles are appealing. That's why the White House approved the Senate version, which gives lip service to arms control agreements with Russia. It's in keeping with the Clinton administration's strategy of adopting Republican ideas rather than fighting them.The vague legislation, lacking a price tag or technology certain to work, was made likely by North Korea's test of a three-stage rocket over Japan.

WASHINGTON -- A fanciful dream first conjured up by Ronald Reagan 14 years ago will take a step toward reality next month when the United States and Russia begin serious talks on the joint development of a system intended to destroy incoming missiles.In White House talks last week, President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Sergei V. Stepashin spoke at length about the emerging threat of missile attacks from rogue nations, hinting at a growing consensus around efforts to develop anti-missile defense systems.

PAUL SARBANES - he's a U.S. senator from Maryland - voted for ''star wars'' the other day. So did Barbara Mikulski, the junior U.S. senator from Maryland. They're all for 'star wars!' (Cue Bill Murray, from old "Saturday Night Live" lounge-singer routine.) Nothing but 'star wars!!' 'St-st-st-star wars!!' Actually, Sarbanes and Mikulski opposed 'star wars' when Ronald Reagan proposed it. That was 15 years ago, when we were still in the throes of a Cold War with the evil Soviet empire. Remember?

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon chose Boeing Co. yesterday to begin assembling a national shield against ballistic missile attacks, shunning a team of companies led by Bethesda's Lockheed Martin Corp.The three-year, $1.6 billion contract gives Boeing the responsibility to marshal a wide range of companies and hardware so the military can decide in the year 2000 whether to put the National Missile Defense System into use.If the Pentagon exercises several options to move forward, yesterday's contract could be worth up to $5.2 billion.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon next year could see the largest budget increase since the Reagan military buildup of the 1980s, with Republican leaders in Congress pressing to at least double the amount being considered by the Clinton administration.Both sides see the need to offer sharp increases over this year's budget to resolve what military chiefs see as "serious wear" on the armed forces, which face a rising number of overseas missions with aging equipment and inadequate pay and benefits.

SOCHI, Russia -- President Bush and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin failed yesterday to overcome their greatest conflicts on a missile defense system the United States plans to build in Central Europe but narrowed the difference over one key element. The two presidents presented divergent assessments after spending nearly five hours together this weekend, with Bush expressing optimism that Russia was relaxing its opposition to the missile shield and Putin presenting a clear view of his objections and the obstacles in its way. "It is a significant breakthrough," said Bush, focusing on Russia's willingness to work on the missile shield in a partnership with the U.S. and its European allies.

MOSCOW -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates wrapped up talks with Russian leaders yesterday without any Kremlin commitment to drop opposition to U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. But unlike their last visit here, there were no lectures from the Russian side and no threats, a sign that relations between Washington and Moscow are warming after a long, deep chill. A tone of measured amicability pervaded over their two-day visit to Moscow that included talks with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

A missile launched from a Navy ship struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific Ocean yesterday, the Pentagon said. A Defense Department official said an initial view of the missile strike on the spy satellite indicated that it probably hit the spacecraft's fuel tank, whose toxic contents were the main target of the missile launch, the Associated Press reported. "Due to the relatively low altitude of the satellite at the time of the engagement, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately," the Pentagon said in a news release last night.

Kennebunkport, Maine -- President Bush accepted a proposal from Russian President Vladimir V. Putin yesterday to involve more European nations in negotiations over missile defense and to consider basing a controversial anti-missile radar system in southern Russia. However, two days of informal talks between the two presidents at the Bush family's seaside compound did not resolve their central disagreement over U.S. plans to install missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe, systems Russia considers a potential threat on its borders.

In the past two months, Russian diplomacy threw a wrench into transatlantic relations, jeopardized U.S. and European energy security plans, put a dent in America's relations with NATO ally Poland, decreased Western influence in the strategic Caucasus region, and significantly increased Moscow's global profile vis-?-vis Brussels and Washington. President Bush's response was to invite Russian President Vladimir V. Putin to the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, for talks on July 1, making Mr. Putin the first head of state to ever receive the honor.

Missile shield system well worth the price In response to the editorial "Let's pretend" (June 10), I think a couple of points need to be made. First, missile defense is not a "boondoggle." The system is tantamount to an insurance policy. The Government Accountability Office has estimated the value of the property damage alone to the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks at $83 billion. Imagine the costs if instead of jet-fueled airliners, the projectiles that struck that day had been ballistic missiles with warheads that contained nuclear, chemical or biological agents.

ROME -- As President Bush received an endorsement yesterday in Poland for placing missile interceptors there, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin presented a second alternative in two days for where the U.S. should install the missile-defense system. The Russian president, speaking at a news conference at the end of Group of Eight summit, said the interceptors could be located in Turkey, or perhaps in Iraq or at sea. A day earlier, he caught U.S. officials by surprise in suggesting that an existing Russian-run radar system in Azerbaijan be used to protect Europe from a possible attack by Iran.

HEILIGENDAMM, GERMANY -- Russian President Vladimir V. Putin proposed yesterday that a missile-defense radar system in Azerbaijan be used to protect Europe from a possible future attack by Iran, and President Bush said the United States and Russia would begin talks aimed at finding areas of strategic cooperation. The surprise proposal from Putin, and the reaction from Bush and other U.S. officials, suggested that the two leaders were seeking ways to step back from their confrontation over a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense network in Poland and the Czech Republic.

MOSCOW -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice persuaded Russian President Vladimir V. Putin yesterday to tone down the harsh words he has directed at the United States in recent months, but their talks failed to yield any breakthroughs on independence for Kosovo or on U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe. Putin, a longtime critic of the Iraq war, surprised the Bush administration in February when, during a speech he gave in Munich, Germany, he branded U.S. foreign policy "extremely dangerous" and denounced "unilateral" U.S. military actions that "bring us to the abyss of one conflict after another."

SEVILLE, Spain -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has criticized U.S. moves to deploy parts of its missile defense system in Eastern Europe, saying yesterday that the plan to base interceptor rockets and radars in Poland and the Czech Republic appeared to be aimed at shooting down Russian weapons. Ivanov was in Spain for the regular meeting between NATO's defense ministers and their Russian counterpart, and his remarks came just hours after his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in which the two discussed the U.S. missile defense plans.