U.S. Seeks East European Missile Defense Base

The United States is in discussions with the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland over the possibility of one of the three countries hosting a U.S. missile interceptor launch site, Knight Ridder reported today (see GSN, June 22).

While the U.S.-Polish talks were made public in May, discussions between the United States and the other two countries was first learned by Arms Control Today, which is set to release a report on the issue this week, according to Knight Ridder

The discussions are so far only at the preliminary stage and a number of issues would have to be resolved before any decisions could be made, U.S., Czech and Hungarian officials said.

“We are totally predecisional,” a U.S. State Department official said. “We are just measuring the interest of NATO allies that would be willing to host a third site,” the official added.

Missile interceptors in one of the East European nations could destroy missiles fired at the United States from the Middle East, U.S. officials said (Jonathan Landay, Knight Ridder/Philly.com, June 28).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.