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President Bush Making Good on Key Campaign Promise Today
Aired December 17, 2002 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush making good on a key campaign promise today. He is announcing deployment of a missile defense system. The interceptor missiles will be based at Ft. Greeley, Alaska. That is where preparations have been going on for sometime now.
Our senior White House correspondent John King.
Good morning to you at the White House.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
As you noted, a signature promise of the Bush for president campaign in 2000, quite a controversy early in this administration. You might recall the Bush administration had to pull out of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, because that treaty specifically prohibited the testing and deployment of a missile defense system. Everyone thought that would lead to a crisis in relations with Russia. Instead, President Bush negotiated with President Putin. Russia wasn't happy at all times in those negotiations, but the two countries have an agreement to cooperate in this area of missile defense.
So the president announcing today his administration is prepared to go forward with the deployment, beginning in the year 2004 of a limited missile defense system. The president saying in a statement issued by the White House -- quote -- "Throughout my administration, I have made clear the United States about take every necessary measure to protect our citizens against what is perhaps the greatest danger of all, catastrophic harm as a result of hostile states or terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them."
Now this is quite controversial, some say it is not necessary in the first place, that there is no such threat of a ballistic missile attack on the United States. The president disagrees. Some also say the technology is not proven. Just last week in one test, there was a failure. The Pentagon will brief on this later today. Pentagon officials say the technology is coming along quite well, and they are confident with it.
The first wave will be land-based systems at Ft. Greeley in Alaska, but there also will be deployments of short and medium-range missile defense systems aboard Aegis cruisers. That's a Navy vessel with high-tech radar and advanced battle command systems. Those will be deployed around the world as well. The president saying he is following through on a key campaign promise here. The price tag? Tens of billions of dollars. The president saying that's necessary to protect this country from coming under a surprise ballistic missile attack.
KAGAN: And, John, that campaign came at a time it seemed like the world was a very different place at that time. Since that time, it seems many people are more afraid of something as simply as an airliner going into a building or bio or chemical weapons, and of course these missiles wouldn't be effective against something like that.
KING: No, it wouldn't, but the president says he has taken steps on that front, as well, and has also used the crisis at times -- we see North Korea developing missile technology. The president says Iraq and Iran are developing missile technology. The president says North Korea and others, including China, sometimes export this missile technology.
So Mr. Bush saying this is a threat. Yes, there are other threats, chemical, biological, unorthodox terrorism, like stealing airplanes and using them as bombs, but Mr. Bush says the country must be prepared to deal with this, and he's going forward with the deployment today.
KAGAN: John King at the White House. John, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 17, 2002 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush making good on a key campaign promise today. He is announcing deployment of a missile defense system. The interceptor missiles will be based at Ft. Greeley, Alaska. That is where preparations have been going on for sometime now.
Our senior White House correspondent John King.
Good morning to you at the White House.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
As you noted, a signature promise of the Bush for president campaign in 2000, quite a controversy early in this administration. You might recall the Bush administration had to pull out of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, because that treaty specifically prohibited the testing and deployment of a missile defense system. Everyone thought that would lead to a crisis in relations with Russia. Instead, President Bush negotiated with President Putin. Russia wasn't happy at all times in those negotiations, but the two countries have an agreement to cooperate in this area of missile defense.
So the president announcing today his administration is prepared to go forward with the deployment, beginning in the year 2004 of a limited missile defense system. The president saying in a statement issued by the White House -- quote -- "Throughout my administration, I have made clear the United States about take every necessary measure to protect our citizens against what is perhaps the greatest danger of all, catastrophic harm as a result of hostile states or terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them."
Now this is quite controversial, some say it is not necessary in the first place, that there is no such threat of a ballistic missile attack on the United States. The president disagrees. Some also say the technology is not proven. Just last week in one test, there was a failure. The Pentagon will brief on this later today. Pentagon officials say the technology is coming along quite well, and they are confident with it.
The first wave will be land-based systems at Ft. Greeley in Alaska, but there also will be deployments of short and medium-range missile defense systems aboard Aegis cruisers. That's a Navy vessel with high-tech radar and advanced battle command systems. Those will be deployed around the world as well. The president saying he is following through on a key campaign promise here. The price tag? Tens of billions of dollars. The president saying that's necessary to protect this country from coming under a surprise ballistic missile attack.
KAGAN: And, John, that campaign came at a time it seemed like the world was a very different place at that time. Since that time, it seems many people are more afraid of something as simply as an airliner going into a building or bio or chemical weapons, and of course these missiles wouldn't be effective against something like that.
KING: No, it wouldn't, but the president says he has taken steps on that front, as well, and has also used the crisis at times -- we see North Korea developing missile technology. The president says Iraq and Iran are developing missile technology. The president says North Korea and others, including China, sometimes export this missile technology.
So Mr. Bush saying this is a threat. Yes, there are other threats, chemical, biological, unorthodox terrorism, like stealing airplanes and using them as bombs, but Mr. Bush says the country must be prepared to deal with this, and he's going forward with the deployment today.
KAGAN: John King at the White House. John, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
