CRS issue brief

Many in Congress and outside the government have shown a growing interest in deploying a ballistic missile defense to protect the United States from attack.The 1972 ABM Treaty prohibits nationwide defense but permits the United States to deploy up to 100 interceptors for long-range ballistic missiles at a single site.Many supporters of National Missile Defense (NMD) argue that the United States must amend or abrogate this treaty so that it can pursue a more robust defense.The United States has pursued the development and deployment of defenses against long-range ballistic missiles since the early 1950s.It deployed a treaty-compliant site in North Dakota in the mid-1970s, but shut it down after only a few months of operation.President Reagan launched a research and development effort into more extensive defenses in the early 1980s, but these plans were scaled back several times during the Reagan and Bush Administrations.IB10034 09-07-00 CRS-1 MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTSOn September 1, 2000, President Clinton announced that he had decided not to authorize deployment of a National Missile Defense (NMD) system at this time.He stated that he could not conclude "that we have enough confidence in the technology, and the operational effectiveness of the entire NMD system, to move forward to deployment."Consequently, the planned deployment date of 2005 will slip, but research and development will continue and the United States will continue to discuss this system and possible changes to the ABM Treaty, with Russia.The President further stated that the final decision on deployment would be left to the next Administration.This announcement ran counter to expectations that the President would accept Secretary of Defense Cohen's arguments in favor of a "limited green light," where the United States would begin the early phases of construction at the radar facility on Shemya Island in Alaska.Construction at that site would have to begin in early 2001 to be completed by 2005.But, the President reportedly concluded that it would not be wise to begin construction there, and raise questions about continued U.S. compliance with the ABM Treaty, if the other technologies needed for the system would not be ready by 2005 anyway.In late August, 2000, Philip Coyle, the Director of Operational Testing at the Department of Defense, stated that the United States would not be able to deploy an NMD system by the target date of 2005 because testing of the system's components had fallen behind schedule.He contended that a more aggressive testing program would be needed to achieve a deployment date of 2005.

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