Split Over Missile Shield Plan
Defense Secretary William Cohen's decision on whether to move forward with a national missile defense system is being delayed by a legal feud between the State Department and the Pentagon over the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, The New York Times reports.
Policymakers from both departments disagree on how far construction on the missile shield can go before the United States violates the treaty.
However, all agree that some building is permissible -- a shift from the legal understanding in place since the Reagan administration, which pressured the Russians into halting construction on a half-built radar station in Siberia.
Opponents of the technically-troubled missile shield say the first steps toward a missile shield don't technically violate the treaty, but would be a diplomatic disaster.
One official tells the Times, "If you can foresee that the system won't be ready until 2006 or 2007, why would you push it now?"
Citing fears that countries like North Korea will be able to launch missile attacks against the United States by 2005, the Pentagon wants to begin the first stage of the system in May – a radar station on a remote Alaskan island.
Cohen says the United States will not technically be in violation of the treaty until workers have laid the rails to support the radar on Shemya Island in 2002. Senior State Department aides disagree.
Another legal interpretations drafted by administration lawyers says a violation would occur when the first concrete is poured for the missile station, which is scheduled for May. That would mean Mr. Clinton must cancel the ABM treaty in December when his term ends to give the Russians the necessary six-month warning.
The final interpretation put forward by administration lawyers says a violation would not occur until the concrete foundation is completed in late 2001 or 2002.
Cohen had planned to give Mr. Clinton his final recommendation on how to proceed with the missile shield in August, but that decision is now expected in several weeks.
