Congress Halts Pentagon Plan to Cut ICBM Force

A Defense Department plan to reduce the force of U.S. land-based strategic missiles was set back by the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill, signed into law this month by President George W. Bush, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 12, 2005).

The Pentagon had recommended removing 50 Minuteman 3 ICBMs from the current U.S. force of 500 long-range missiles deployed in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming, according to AP.

New legislation promoted by senators from those states, however, prohibits any reductions until the Pentagon issues a detailed report studying the effects of eliminating missile systems and an assessment of how many test missiles are required in the force.

Maintaining the current force aids U.S. security, said one senator.

“It’s insurance, it’s deterrence,” said Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.).  “From a military perspective and also from a psychological perspective.”

The Pentagon reduction plan called for cutting the 50 missiles based at Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base because the site uses a different operating system than the rest of the Minuteman force, AP reported.

Baucus’s fellow Montana senator, Conrad Burns (R), also opposed any cuts.

“In light of a nuclear North Korea, Senator Burns feels this is the wrong thing to do,” said spokesman James Pendleton.

One strategic forces expert, however, said U.S. forces greatly exceed the number needed to address the North Korean threat.

“If you had 50 missiles, you’d still have more missiles than there are targets,” said John Pike, head of GlobalSecurity.org.  “There’s just nothing there” (Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press/Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, Oct. 29).

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