WASHINGTON -- Newly inaugurated U.S. President Barack Obama has confirmed the wisdom of the allied approach to missile defense. The existing missile defense program involves allied participation in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and this should continue. Key among the various cooperative efforts are the agreements with the Czech Republic and Poland, both NATO allies, to field a missile defense radar and 10 Ground-based Midcourse Defense interceptors on their territories to counter longer-range missiles, UPI reports.
If Obama wants to send a signal that the United States intends to use missile defense cooperation to reinforce its alliance relationships, he should make it clear that the United States will move to implement these agreements.
What Obama should not do is adopt the position of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who urged a moratorium on the fielding of missile defenses in Europe. Sarkozy's statement serves to undermine the solidarity of the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization in favor of the program that was adopted by NATO leaders at their summit in Bucharest, Romania, in the spring.
Obama also needs to recognize that ballistic missile defense (BMD) has been the least developed component of the forces necessary to protect and defend the United States and its allies around the world.
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