(Joint media availability with Minister of Defense Ricardo Lopez Murphy of Argentina)
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Q: I wonder if I might ask you something briefly about NMD. A number of members of the House -- I believe 36 -- have written you a letter, asking you to postpone a decision on NMD, saying that it's not mature enough. And former top officials John White and John Deutch and Harold Brown have also suggested that you put off a decision and in fact possibly deploy a naval -- the naval system around Korea, so that you could at once protect yourself against Korea, and not anger the Russians. What is your response to these calls?
Secretary Cohen: Well, first of all, Congress -- both the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, have passed legislation mandating that we deploy a national missile defense system as soon as it is technologically feasible. We are in the process of examining whether or not we could deploy such a system.
As we've indicated before, we have been researching, developing a national missile defense program. The president has yet to make a decision concerning deployment. We intend to continue to carry out that research and development with an additional test that will come next month, at the end of next month, and then make an evaluation according to the criteria that the president has set: What is the nature of the threat? What is the level of technology that we have? What are the costs involved, and what are the implications for arms control?
At the appropriate time, after examining the tests, I will make a recommendation to the president.
But I should point out that Congress has strongly favored that we provide this kind of protection to the American people, and we want to at least put the president in a position of having all of the information at his disposal before he decides whether or not it's in the interests of this country to go forward.
With respect to a sea-based system, I will point out that the reason that we decided to do the research and development on the land-based system was because it's become very clear that this is a system that can be deployed the soonest.
We have not ruled out having a sea-based component. Indeed, Admiral Johnson, the CNO, has indicated he would like to make sure that we reserve that option. We intend to reserve that option. And so all of these factors are under consideration at this time.
Q: Just to follow. Will these rising calls from Congress for you to put off the decision in any way play into your recommendation to the president, or will it be based strictly on the criteria that you said he set out?
Secretary Cohen: I intend to base it on the criteria that the president has set forth, the four criteria: threat, technology, cost, and implications for arms control.
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Q: Back to the first topic of the national missile defense. Mr. Cohen, the Chinese have been very critical of the United States plans, testing, et cetera. They say that their deterrent is obstructed by having an anti-missile base in Alaska. And they also have said that they're going to get closer to the Russians militarily if we continue the way we're going. How would you reply to these particular fears and criticisms by the Chinese?
Secretary Cohen: Well, I would hope that all of those countries who are most concerned about the willingness of the American people to provide a defense against the spread of missile technology and weapons of mass destruction would contribute to stabilizing the situation by not transferring technology that creates the problem.
But I would say to China, and to others, that this is not directed against them, but there are countries who are acquiring a capability that will pose a threat to the security of the United States, and that the president of the United States will consider -- again under those four criteria -- as to whether or not we should provide a limited form of protection against a limited type of an attack.
We have made it very clear to the Russians this is not in any way directed toward them or can it in any way undercut their strategic deterrent, and we have tried to make it very clear that our goal is to protect us against the kind of nations who would try to intimidate us or blackmail us from carrying out our conventional responsibilities such as we did during the Persian Gulf. That is our goal.
Q: Can this system as envisioned in any way undercut the strategic deterrence of China?
Secretary Cohen: Well, China is going to make its own decisions in terms of how many missiles it will deploy. That will be a decision they will make, and I think irrespective they will make a decision within their own best interests. Whether they go with more or less will be a decision that they will make. But this is not directed against them.
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Q: Thank you very much.
Secretary Cohen: Okay. Thanks very much.