Appropriators Support Bush Missile Defense Plans

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — House and Senate appropriators last week approved funding for two controversial aspects of the Bush administration’s national missile defense program in reconciling their versions of the fiscal 2005 defense appropriations bill, while significantly cutting early funding for a boost-phase defense program (see GSN, June 15).

Their conference report on the $416.2 billion bill, which provides $10 billion for missile defense, was filed yesterday and released to the public.

At a closed-door conference to hammer out differences in the bill, members of the House-Senate conference approved some initial funding for the first 10 interceptor missiles intended for a new national missile defense interceptor base of undetermined location in fiscal 2006-7.

Recent news stories have said the administration is negotiating with several European countries to house a third U.S. antimissile missile base, apparently intended to protect the United States against some future ICBM challenge from Southwest Asia (see GSN, June 28). The administration this year plans to activate elements of a system around the Pacific for defense against a potential North Korean ICBM capability (see GSN, July 13).

Missile Defense Agency officials, however, will not say where they would like to put the third base. 

The Senate elsewhere this year, through the defense authorization process, recommended against funding the additional missiles, citing a lack of knowledge about the placement of the third site. Senate and House conferees this week began reconciling differences over their versions of that bill.

The defense appropriators also funded a plan to test a space-based interceptor in fiscal 2006 called the Near Field Infrared Experiments (NFIRE), which critics say could challenge a global space weapons taboo. Defense officials have said the test could, but is not intended to, produce an intercept (see GSN, June 15).

The House Appropriations Committee cut the $68 million in requested funding for the program. Senate appropriators approved the funding, as did the conferees.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, directed that “the test, if it proceeds as planned, be conducted in such a manner as to prevent an impact.”

The conferees cut $297 million in early funding from the Kinetic Energy Interceptor program, which is designed to develop land-, sea- and space-launched interceptors for striking enemy ICBMs in “boost phase,” or soon after launch (see GSN, June 3). No explanation was provided.

They approved $348 million for the program, which includes the money for NFIRE.

They added, meanwhile, $200 million for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense intercept program, bringing its overall funding to $4.6 billion for fiscal 2005. 

That additional money was provided to address “significant funding challenges associated with the decision to begin fielding missile defense for the United States in late 2004.”

They wrote that the Missile Defense Agency should fully fund the program for fiscal 2006, including by providing budget requests for operations, support and security costs.

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