Bush Administration's Missile Defense Plan "Deaf, Dumb and Blind"
Dec 17, 2002
For immediate release: Tuesday, December 17,2002
Contact: John Isaacs (202) 5434100 x.131
Matt Martin (202) 543-4100 x.107
Washington, D.C. . .The Bush Administration’s announcement today that it plans to deploy a modest missile defense system by 2004 and 2005 is a triumph of politics over national security, said Council for a Livable World in a statement released today.
The Council is one of the nation’s oldest and largest arms control organizations and is based in Washington, D.C.
This deployment fulfills a Bush campaign pledge to deploy a system before the end of a first term. John Isaacs, president of Council for a Livable World, accused the Administration of deploying a system that is “deaf, dumb and blind.” “
A missile defense system that protects Americans consistently and reliably is years, if not decades, away,” said Isaacs. “The planned deployment lacks a needed radar system to make it see, operational tests to determine if it works and satellite systems to provide adequate sensors.”
Isaacs pointed out that the most recent missile defense test — a highly scripted test — failed. In fact, the ground-based national missile defense system tests have proven successful only five of eight times. Moreover, realistic tests against multiple forms of decoys and countermeasures and tests in bad weather with no advance warning are years away. Nor is a new booster rocket tested and ready for deployment
“The new missile system will not protect against the ‘axis of evil; it only defends against the axis of Karl Rove and conservative Republicans who are important to the President’s re-election effort,” continued Isaacs.
“In the 1980’s, President Reagan’s Pentagon paid for wasteful hundred dollar toilet seats and coffee pots; President Bush is countering with a wasteful multi-billion dollar missile defense system,” concluded Isaacs.
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