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Bush Orders Deployment of Missile Defense System
Aired December 17, 2002 - 13:20 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has put in the order, and we're talking about a system designed to shoot down enemy missiles. Just last week, a test of the system failed, but whether it's perfect or not, President Bush calls it a starting point for diverting potential catastrophes. We will begin in Washington. Our national security correspondent, David Ensor has more from Washington -- hi, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, as you say, President Bush made it official today, ordering the U.S. military to deploy a limited system to protect the United States against ballistic missile attack.
It's a network of radars and defensive missiles that will begin operating, at least some of them will, by 2004. Ten ground based missiles that could hit incoming ballistic missiles are to be placed at Fort Greely, Alaska in 2004, and they will be followed by an additional ten missiles in the following couple of years.
Also in Alaska, upgraded and new radars for early warning. In Greenland and in the United Kingdom, an upgrade of existing radars also used by the U.S. for early warning of approaching missiles, and the requests are in to those countries.
But there is more. Some missiles placed on Aegis ships at sea. They are more responsive to changing threats, and speeded up deployment of the latest version of the Patriot missile to intercept short and medium range missiles such as Scuds.
Now, the reason for this deployment, the main threat it is designed to counter, can be summed up in one country: North Korea.
The 1998 launch by North Korea of a three-stage No Dong missile that threw over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean shocked U.S. policymakers with how far along the North Koreans were, and it led the Clinton administration to make plans for a ground-based set of interceptors to be based in Alaska.
To counter the threat of a North Korean missile launch against Alaska or the U.S. mainland, President Bush has now ordered deployment of that system of interceptors.
He has also beefed up work on sea-based as well as other systems. Now, some experts are skeptical that the initial Alaska-based system will really work, and the most recent test on December 11, as you mentioned, of a ground-based interceptor failed, but as one skeptic put it to me today, perhaps ten interceptors are better than none. At least they would give North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il some reason to doubt about whether he could successfully hit a U.S. target.
The request for Denmark and Britain to allow early warning radar systems in Greenland and the north of England that may be needed to make a missile defense system look West as well are in.
They are looking -- watching for the future missile launches -- possible launches from places like Iran, Iraq or Libya. The Bush administration is now working hard to persuade Europeans that their continent also faces a future threat as ballistic missile technology proliferates.
There is some opposition in Denmark, Britain, and elsewhere to helping President Bush with his missile defense plans. Some European newspapers are calling it "Son of Star Wars," a reference to President Reagan's ill-fated program which was also designed to protect the U.S. from missile attack -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. David Ensor, thank you so much.
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 - 13:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has put in the order, and we're talking about a system designed to shoot down enemy missiles. Just last week, a test of the system failed, but whether it's perfect or not, President Bush calls it a starting point for diverting potential catastrophes. We will begin in Washington. Our national security correspondent, David Ensor has more from Washington -- hi, David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, as you say, President Bush made it official today, ordering the U.S. military to deploy a limited system to protect the United States against ballistic missile attack.
It's a network of radars and defensive missiles that will begin operating, at least some of them will, by 2004. Ten ground based missiles that could hit incoming ballistic missiles are to be placed at Fort Greely, Alaska in 2004, and they will be followed by an additional ten missiles in the following couple of years.
Also in Alaska, upgraded and new radars for early warning. In Greenland and in the United Kingdom, an upgrade of existing radars also used by the U.S. for early warning of approaching missiles, and the requests are in to those countries.
But there is more. Some missiles placed on Aegis ships at sea. They are more responsive to changing threats, and speeded up deployment of the latest version of the Patriot missile to intercept short and medium range missiles such as Scuds.
Now, the reason for this deployment, the main threat it is designed to counter, can be summed up in one country: North Korea.
The 1998 launch by North Korea of a three-stage No Dong missile that threw over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean shocked U.S. policymakers with how far along the North Koreans were, and it led the Clinton administration to make plans for a ground-based set of interceptors to be based in Alaska.
To counter the threat of a North Korean missile launch against Alaska or the U.S. mainland, President Bush has now ordered deployment of that system of interceptors.
He has also beefed up work on sea-based as well as other systems. Now, some experts are skeptical that the initial Alaska-based system will really work, and the most recent test on December 11, as you mentioned, of a ground-based interceptor failed, but as one skeptic put it to me today, perhaps ten interceptors are better than none. At least they would give North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il some reason to doubt about whether he could successfully hit a U.S. target.
The request for Denmark and Britain to allow early warning radar systems in Greenland and the north of England that may be needed to make a missile defense system look West as well are in.
They are looking -- watching for the future missile launches -- possible launches from places like Iran, Iraq or Libya. The Bush administration is now working hard to persuade Europeans that their continent also faces a future threat as ballistic missile technology proliferates.
There is some opposition in Denmark, Britain, and elsewhere to helping President Bush with his missile defense plans. Some European newspapers are calling it "Son of Star Wars," a reference to President Reagan's ill-fated program which was also designed to protect the U.S. from missile attack -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. David Ensor, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
