Washington, D.C.- Representative Tom Allen today announced that he will introduce legislation to direct the President to solicit contributions from allied nations to share the burden of the costs of a missile defense system, if the President intends the system to protect them as well as the United States.

"President Bush has repeatedly stated that a U.S. national missile defense should protect our allies," Representative Allen said. "My legislation makes it clear that if allied and friendly nations are to receive the benefit of a missile shield, they must also bear the responsibility for the cost and consequences of the U.S.-built system."

Yesterday, in a speech at the National Defense University, President Bush called for "effective missile defenses that could protect the United States, our deployed forces, our friends and our allies." He also announced he would dispatch U.S. officials to discuss his missile defense with foreign governments, who have expressed concerns that a U.S. national missile defense could freeze or reverse Russian nuclear weapons reductions, hurt efforts to stem Russian nuclear proliferation, and undermine trans-Atlantic security.

"The Bush Administration has been trying to sell a missile shield to our skeptical European allies, yet offered no specifics on the size, shape of costs of its missile defense proposal,"Representative Allen said. "If the Administration is serious about allied protection, it should endorse my approach. Our government must be honest with the allies on what joint protection will really mean, in terms of the cost, the consequences for relations with Russia and China, and the uncertainty of protection, given that missile defense technology has yet to be proven to work reliably and consistently."

The legislation, entitled the "Missile Defense Burdensharing Act of 2001" and to be introduced next week in the House of Representatives, would:

• Require the President to notify Congress whether current of planned U.S. missile defense systems are intended to protect allied and friendly nations, as well as the United States, from ballistic missile attack;

• Direct the President to designate allied and friendly nations as "Protected Nations" if they are intended to be protected by a U.S. missile defense;

• Allow the President to waive the designation if he informs an allied or friendly country why it will not receive U.S. protection, and indicates whether the denial of protection conflicts with any U.S. security commitments under the NATO Treaty or other pacts;

• Require the President to seek burden-sharing contributions from "Protected Nations" to cover a proportional share of the costs of deployment of U.S. missile defenses; and

• Clarifies that theater missile defenses designed to protect U.S. troops and assets overseas would be exempt from the burden-sharing requirement.

"This legislation builds on previous defense burden-sharing arrangements that the U.S. has established with Japan, NATO countries, and other nations to share the costs of common defense efforts, and the contributions solicited from coalition states to cover a large part of the costs of prosecuting the Persian Gulf War," Representative Allen said.

Contact: Mark Sullivan, (207)774-5019 or (207)622-3419 or (207)671-0542