QUOTE (Story)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is overhauling Bush-era plans for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, based partly on the latest analysis of Iran's offensive capabilities, President Obama said Thursday.
President Obama on Thursday says the Bush-era missile defense plan will be replaced with a new system.
President Obama on Thursday says the Bush-era missile defense plan will be replaced with a new system.
The "new missile defense architecture in Europe ... will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack than the... program" that former President George W. Bush proposed, Obama said.
Obama said the change of gears was based on an "updated intelligence assessment" about Iran's ability to hit Europe with missiles.
The Islamic republic's "short- and medium-range" missiles pose the most current threat, he said, and "this new ballistic missile defense will best address" that threat.
Gates, speaking from the Pentagon immediately after the president's announcement, denied the United States was "scrapping" missile defense.
"This new approach provides a better missile defense capability for our forces in Europe, for our European allies and eventually for our homeland than the program I recommended almost three years ago," said Gates, who was defense chief in the last two years of the Bush administration and stayed on when Obama took office. Video Watch as Obama says new approach suited to threats of 21st century »
The Bush-era proposal called for the U.S. to set up a radar site in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland to counter the threat of Iran launching long-range missiles at America's allies in Europe.
The new system will have "hundreds" of missile interceptors, said Gen. James Cartwright, deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon's point man on the issue.
It also will have mobile radars, including some in space, "that can move to wherever the threat actually emanates and wherever we feel we need to defend ourselves," Cartwright said.
He contrasted the new sensor technology with the radar systems envisioned in the old plan, which he called "basically left over from the Cold War."
The new plan includes three types of missiles to shoot down incoming threats -- Patriot missiles, which defend a single location; SM-3 interceptors, which he said could protect "a general area like the area from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C."; and large ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California.
The first phase of the system is due to be in place in 2011, with the subsequent phases rolling out around 2015, 2018 and 2020, he said.
"It's a more advanced system, more cost-effective and efficient," a senior administration official said before the president and Gates spoke.
"The technology has evolved in a way that allows you to deploy a system that is more effective in countering both short-, medium- and long-range missiles," said the official, contrasting the types of missiles that Iran, for example, is believed to have with intercontinental ballistic missiles of the kind feared during the Cold War.
The Bush administration had cited the perceived nuclear threat from Iran as one of the key reasons it wanted to install the missile shield in Eastern Europe.
But a 60-day review mandated by Congress and ordered by Obama recommended the new approach that was unveiled Thursday.
American officials from Obama on down insisted Thursday's announcement does not reflect any lesser commitment to European defense.
But the U.S. reversal is likely to please Russia, which had fiercely opposed the plan.
Obama has been seeking a stronger relationship with Russia and better cooperation from the Kremlin to support tough U.N. economic sanctions against Iran if it continues to pursue its nuclear ambitions.
There was no immediate comment Thursday morning from Russian officials, although Russia's ambassador to the United Nations grinned when asked if he had heard the announcement. "Oh, yes," the Russian envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said with a smile.
Missile defense has been a sore point in relations between Washington and Moscow, with Russia believing the shield would ultimately erode its strategic nuclear deterrent.
The missile shield issue came up in July during a meeting between Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow. Obama maintained that Russia had nothing to fear from such a system, which would be designed to intercept a solitary missile from Iran or North Korea, as opposed to "a mighty Russian arsenal."
But the senior administration official denied a diplomatic motive to scrapping the missile defense program.
"This has nothing to do with Russia," he said. "The notion that we're abandoning missile defense is completely false. It's evolving into a different system."
A U.S. delegation held high-level meetings Thursday in Poland and the Czech Republic to discuss the missile defense system. Officials in both countries confirmed the system would be scrapped.
In a statement, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said that Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States was shelving its plans. Fischer did not say what reason Obama gave him for reconsidering.
A spokeswoman at the Polish Ministry of Defense also said the program had been suspended.
"This is catastrophic for Poland," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with ministry policy.
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Poland and the Czech Republic had based much of their future security policy on getting the missile defenses from the United States. The countries share deep concerns of a future military threat from the east -- namely, Russia -- and may look for other defense assurances from their NATO allies.
"At the NATO summit in April, we adopted a resolution focusing on building a defense system against real, existing threats, i.e. short-range and medium-range missiles," Fischer said. "We expect that the United States will continue cooperating with the Czech Republic on concluding the relevant agreements on our mutual [research and development] and military collaboration, including the financing of specific projects."
President Obama on Thursday says the Bush-era missile defense plan will be replaced with a new system.
President Obama on Thursday says the Bush-era missile defense plan will be replaced with a new system.
The "new missile defense architecture in Europe ... will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack than the... program" that former President George W. Bush proposed, Obama said.
Obama said the change of gears was based on an "updated intelligence assessment" about Iran's ability to hit Europe with missiles.
The Islamic republic's "short- and medium-range" missiles pose the most current threat, he said, and "this new ballistic missile defense will best address" that threat.
Gates, speaking from the Pentagon immediately after the president's announcement, denied the United States was "scrapping" missile defense.
"This new approach provides a better missile defense capability for our forces in Europe, for our European allies and eventually for our homeland than the program I recommended almost three years ago," said Gates, who was defense chief in the last two years of the Bush administration and stayed on when Obama took office. Video Watch as Obama says new approach suited to threats of 21st century »
The Bush-era proposal called for the U.S. to set up a radar site in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland to counter the threat of Iran launching long-range missiles at America's allies in Europe.
The new system will have "hundreds" of missile interceptors, said Gen. James Cartwright, deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon's point man on the issue.
It also will have mobile radars, including some in space, "that can move to wherever the threat actually emanates and wherever we feel we need to defend ourselves," Cartwright said.
He contrasted the new sensor technology with the radar systems envisioned in the old plan, which he called "basically left over from the Cold War."
The new plan includes three types of missiles to shoot down incoming threats -- Patriot missiles, which defend a single location; SM-3 interceptors, which he said could protect "a general area like the area from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C."; and large ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California.
The first phase of the system is due to be in place in 2011, with the subsequent phases rolling out around 2015, 2018 and 2020, he said.
"It's a more advanced system, more cost-effective and efficient," a senior administration official said before the president and Gates spoke.
"The technology has evolved in a way that allows you to deploy a system that is more effective in countering both short-, medium- and long-range missiles," said the official, contrasting the types of missiles that Iran, for example, is believed to have with intercontinental ballistic missiles of the kind feared during the Cold War.
The Bush administration had cited the perceived nuclear threat from Iran as one of the key reasons it wanted to install the missile shield in Eastern Europe.
But a 60-day review mandated by Congress and ordered by Obama recommended the new approach that was unveiled Thursday.
American officials from Obama on down insisted Thursday's announcement does not reflect any lesser commitment to European defense.
But the U.S. reversal is likely to please Russia, which had fiercely opposed the plan.
Obama has been seeking a stronger relationship with Russia and better cooperation from the Kremlin to support tough U.N. economic sanctions against Iran if it continues to pursue its nuclear ambitions.
There was no immediate comment Thursday morning from Russian officials, although Russia's ambassador to the United Nations grinned when asked if he had heard the announcement. "Oh, yes," the Russian envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said with a smile.
Missile defense has been a sore point in relations between Washington and Moscow, with Russia believing the shield would ultimately erode its strategic nuclear deterrent.
The missile shield issue came up in July during a meeting between Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow. Obama maintained that Russia had nothing to fear from such a system, which would be designed to intercept a solitary missile from Iran or North Korea, as opposed to "a mighty Russian arsenal."
But the senior administration official denied a diplomatic motive to scrapping the missile defense program.
"This has nothing to do with Russia," he said. "The notion that we're abandoning missile defense is completely false. It's evolving into a different system."
A U.S. delegation held high-level meetings Thursday in Poland and the Czech Republic to discuss the missile defense system. Officials in both countries confirmed the system would be scrapped.
In a statement, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said that Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States was shelving its plans. Fischer did not say what reason Obama gave him for reconsidering.
A spokeswoman at the Polish Ministry of Defense also said the program had been suspended.
"This is catastrophic for Poland," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with ministry policy.
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Poland and the Czech Republic had based much of their future security policy on getting the missile defenses from the United States. The countries share deep concerns of a future military threat from the east -- namely, Russia -- and may look for other defense assurances from their NATO allies.
"At the NATO summit in April, we adopted a resolution focusing on building a defense system against real, existing threats, i.e. short-range and medium-range missiles," Fischer said. "We expect that the United States will continue cooperating with the Czech Republic on concluding the relevant agreements on our mutual [research and development] and military collaboration, including the financing of specific projects."
Frankly, I'm loving Obama's defense changes so far. First, getting rid of the utterly pointless F-22, now, getting rid of an anachronistic missile defense system.
Your thoughts on Obama's defensive spending alterations, please?
