Retired U.S. General Urges Canada to Nix Cooperation on Missile Defense Program

Canada should not join the U.S. missile defense program, a retired U.S. Army general said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 6).

“I don’t think anything will happen [if Canada does not participate in U.S. missile defenses],” said retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, who has led a campaign within the United States against deployment of the system. Gard is a fellow with the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation.

Gard is concerned that the “highly complex system of systems” has not been adequately tested and may not function once deployed.

“As of now, no major part of the system has been tested in deployment,” Gard said. “The last integrated test was in December 2002 — and it failed,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 10).

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