http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010324/20/int-missile-defense?printstory=1

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Canada is waiting for President Bush to decide the details of a national missile defense system before announcing whether it supports such a plan, a top Canadian official said Saturday.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley, after touring the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the two nations continue to discuss the issue.

"It is clear that the U.S. sees it as potentially a vehicle for increasing not just national and continental security, but also broader security," Manley said.

Most European allies and Canada have expressed reservations about a U.S. missile defense system, which would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia.

President Bush is moving to develop a missile defense system despite those reservations and objections from Russia and China.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has declined an appeal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to come out strongly against missile defense.

Manley said the United States has not asked the Canadians to make a decision: "We've really been asked to do only one thing, not make up our minds until the administration has decided what it wants to do."

"We are open-minded and looking for more information," added National Defense Minister Art Eggleton.

He said Canada will post a liaison officer at the Pentagon Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which plans to try to shoot down a mock nuclear missile, probably in May or June.

Manley said his government might have to make its decision by summer, when Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he hopes to present details of the U.S. plan to NATO.

"It's not as though this is entirely theoretical," Manley said. "It is proceeding quickly to a point at which they will take a firm plan forward."

The Clinton administration pursued development of a missile defense system to protect all 50 states but decided last summer the technology was still insufficient to make a commitment to deploy it.

At NORAD, in Cheyenne Mountain, the Canadian military works with the United States to watch activity in space and warn of an aircraft or missile attack on North America.