U.S., Czech Officials Support NATO Involvement in European Missile Defense Efforts

U.S. and Czech officials agreed yesterday that the Bush administration’s planned missile defense installations in Europe should be linked to NATO systems, the Xinhua News Agency reported (see GSN, Jan. 17).

“I am deeply convinced that the Bucharest NATO summit will show that the (U.S. and NATO) defense against short- and medium-range missiles is clearly interlinked,” said Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who attended a meeting of the Czech National Security Council with Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (see GSN, March 19, 2007).

A proposed radar base in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland would be intended to provide a defense against missile threats from the Middle East, particularly Iran.  They would complement other U.S. sea- and ground-based systems.

Former U.S. Defense Department testing chief Philip Coyle, visiting the Czech Republic, said it was not proven yet that the European system would be capable of fending off an Iranian missile strike (Xinhua News Agency, Jan. 18).

Hoping to alleviate Polish concerns, a senior U.S. official said the Bush administration plans to increase cooperation with NATO and Russia on the European system, the Associated Press reported.

“In the course of our discussions over the past many months, Poland has made some suggestions that we take seriously,” Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said in Warsaw.  “Poles have urged us to seek to work with Russia cooperatively on missile defense, and we have done so.”

Russia has objected strenuously to the U.S. plan, characterizing it as a security threat.  It has played up the capabilities of its missiles to defeat defense systems and has threatened to aim nuclear-tipped missiles at European targets.

Moscow and Washington have both offered plans aimed at overcoming their differences on the missile shield.  Neither nation’s plan has satisfied the other country.

“Poland has never urged us to give Russia a veto over this program, but it is reasonable for Poland as well as other European countries to encourage us to seek to work with Russia,” Fried said.

Poland has also pressed the United States “to increase NATO’s role in the mission,” Fried said.  “We have done so.”

Poland has sought air defense support, potentially involving Patriot or Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense systems, in exchange for housing the missile interceptors.  “We did not interpret Polish suggestions as suggestions that Poland be paid off for missile defense but rather as serious suggestions from a serious ally to deepen military cooperation,” Fried said.

Further talks on the matter are expected in the next few weeks, Fried said (Vanessa Gera, Associated Press/Miami Herald, Jan. 17).

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