U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he preferred a limited missile defense system that does not scrap the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, according to a Sunday New York Times Magazine article.  Powell’s idea of a limited missile defense system would consist of sea-based interceptors.

Regarding the restrictions for developing missile defense systems that the ABM Treaty imposes, Powell said he preferred that the United States and Russia agree to an amendment to the treaty rather than abrogating it, as some other senior U.S. officials, such as National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, have suggested.  A ratified amendment would carry the blessing of Congress and avoid much of the controversy surrounding the treaty.  His second choice would be an informal agreement with Russia that would allow certain tests, he said.

Rice and opponents to the ABM Treaty have argued that an amendment to the treaty would require lengthy debate in the U.S. Senate, and mutual agreements would provide too much leverage to Russia, according to the Times.

Powell said Rice’s argument that legally-binding documents are no longer necessary since the Cold War has ended has some merit.  He added, however, that he understands Russian concerns that without binding agreements, hard-line presidents could come to power and create new security dilemmas. 

“The one thing that scares them—and I’d be scared if I were them [is that they say] … ‘Powell, we love you like a brother … But you’ll be gone one day.  [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will be gone.  [U.S. President George W.] Bush will be gone.  [Russian Foreign Minister] Igor [Ivanov] will be gone.  And we will have made some kind of a deal now, and, great, it’s a limited defense.  Well, one day another president comes in, and he decides: “I’ll replicate it.  I’ll clone it.  I’ll geneticize it.”  And it goes from being a limited defense to: Pow! [former U.S. President Ronald] Reagan’s back.  How do you persuade us that’s not going to happen?  We can’t do this on the basis of personal relations.  It has to be on the basis of our national interest over time.’” 

Do address those concerns, the United States and Russia must codify arrangements, Powell said (Bill Keller, New York Times Magazine, Nov. 25).

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