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American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
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FRESH HOPE FOR U.S.-DANISH COOPERATION After months of delay, missile talks between Copenhagen and Washington are poised to move forward. Inside Missile Defense (August 20) reports that discussions regarding planned upgrades to the Thule radar base in Greenland -- stymied in recent months by domestic opposition in the Danish autonomous colony -- could resume as early as next month. The Danish government has already signaled its preliminary approval for the Thule upgrades, which constitute an important element in the Bush administration's planned global anti-ballistic missile architecture. Formal approval from the country's parliament, however, is still pending. A NEW ALLY AGAINST NORTH KOREA? As the United States and its Asian allies plan regional naval exercises designed to contain North Korean proliferation, Washington is putting growing diplomatic pressure on one of Pyongyang's most reliable client states. According to Middle East Newsline (August 21), Administration officials are seeking a pledge from Yemen to cease its efforts to acquire missile technologies from the Kim regime, and to disclose to the United States instances of DPRK proliferation. The request comes following a June meeting between Under Secretary of State John Bolton and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh regarding "bilateral relations and fields of joint cooperation," the news agency reports. NMD BUDGET BATTLE LOOMS IN CONGRESS When Congress comes back to session next month, funding for missile defense is likely to become a hotly-contested issue between the Senate and the House of Representatives. According to the Washington Times’ August 15th “Inside the Ring” column, the White House is pushing hard for an operational system to protect the United States from ballistic missile attack by September 2004, in time for that year’s presidential election. This timeline, however, requires additional funding to be allocated for the ground-based segment of the Pentagon’s missile defense effort. And while the Senate, under the leadership of Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), has apportioned the necessary funds, the House of Representatives so far has not. JAPAN FOCUSES ON PRIORITY DEFENSE... The national missile defense system being planned by Tokyo will focus on providing priority protection to urban centers and strategic assets, a new plan by the country’s Defense Agency has revealed. According to the proposal, reported by the Kyodo news service on August 18th, Japan’s planned two-tier defenses will cover major metropolitan centers throughout the country, as well as military bases and strategic assets. But comprehensive national coverage is not possible with the system currently envisioned by Tokyo, the news agency reports. The Defense Agency has thus recommended an emergency action plan that would allocate sea-based and land-based missile defense components as needed -- including the deployment of two to three Aegis destroyers to the Sea of Japan, and PAC-3 batteries around six strategic locations, in the event of rising hostilities with North Korea. ...AND ACCELERATED DEPLOYMENT Moreover, such a system could take shape much sooner than planned. Channel NewsAsia (August 22) reports that the country’s defense ministry will be requesting supplemental funds to make possible accelerated deployment of missile defenses, perhaps as early as next year. According to the news channel, if allocated, the request -- which is likely to top $1 billion for the next fiscal year -- would be used to deploy an upgraded system of Patriot theater missile defense batteries. U.S. OFFICIALS: MISSILE THREAT INCREASING The United States will face a significantly expanded threat from ballistic and cruise missiles over the next five years, two top military officials have asserted. According to Lieutenant General Joseph Cosumano, head of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the gravity of the threat stems from rapid technological diffusion and rampant proliferation. “Technology is progressing very fast. The bad guys out there get this also, and they are using it,” Cosumano told participants at the Sixth Annual Space and Missile Conference and Exhibition in Huntsville, Alabama on August 19th. Clyde Walker, Director of the Missile and Space Intelligence Center of Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal, further revealed that American intelligence estimates now identify at least 25 countries and 12 terrorist groups that are developing ballistic missiles, the August 20th Global Security Newswire reports. |
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