Missile Defense

(Officials' trips to Europe, Asia met "mixed" reactions) (440)

Speaking of the recent trips to European and Asian capitals by Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and officials from the State
Department and National Security Council (NSC) for consultations on
missile defense, Pentagon spokesman Admiral Craig Quigley said
reaction to the proposed missile defense system "was mixed."

"It was appreciative," he said. "They were almost uniformly
appreciative of the consultations in the first place - being asked,
not being presented a 'done deal - here it is. Take it or leave it.'
It was kind of, 'Here's our thinking and we'd like to hear your
thoughts as well.'

"There was also an expression of skepticism from some of the capitals
as well, for a variety of reasons: concerns on cost, technical
feasibility, treaty issues and a variety of things," the spokesman
said.

He declined to give a "blow by blow" description of each country's
reactions, saying "There was some positive reaction and a sense of
'this is doable,' but the principal purpose, I think, of Deputy
Secretary Wolfowitz in Europe, and Deputy Secretary (of State Richard)
Armitage in Asia, was to try to convince the allies and our friends
around the world that there's a need to take a look at deterrence in a
new way.

"This is not the Cold War ... when the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile)
Treaty was negotiated, through the 80's when you ... basically had the
Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and NATO in the West, and - as
Secretary Rumsfeld has said - on basically 30 minutes notice, (you
had) the capability to destroy each other many times. That's not the
world that faces us today."

Quigley said that despite the existence for many years of "America's
very capable deterrent force, it has not been capable of deterring all
conflict in the world. So if you say that the world of the 70's and
80's is gone, then you need to think about what deterrence means in
the first part of the 21st century in a different way. And that was
really at the heart of our discussions with our friends and allies
around the world."

In all, it was "a good opportunity" to factor the European and Asian
leaders' thoughts and reactions into "our thinking," the spokesman
said. He said he expects that there will be hearings on the trip later
in the week of May 14th.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Website: http://usinfo.state.gov)