The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Chairwoman, Rep. Ellen Tauscher added two key amendments to the overall missile defense FY 2008 budget at the House Armed Services Committee that resulted in restoring of $150 million to boost phase missile defense, $48 million for future missile defense systems, including space sensors, $12 million more for sea-based sensors and language to allow $160 million for the proposed European third missile defense site to be resubmitted when agreements are reached with host nations.

This shift of priorities from last week's initial Strategic Subcommittee's markup shows a bipartisan movement accepted by a Democratic Majority to put forward systems to address future threats and to continue to invest into our countries most advanced boost phase missile defense system, the Air Borne Laser.   We congratulate and applaud the modifications led by Chairwoman Rep. Ellen Tauscher, as well as the efforts lead by Rep. Larson (D) and Rep. Franks (R) to support those two key modifications.  We believe that this overall mark is an important statement as it addresses investment in future systems that are needed along with the priority of near term deployment of the current systems.

It is of note, that the $210 million for this amendment was redirected from other Missile Defense funds as the majority of it came from the "Special Programs" of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).  Though MDAA does not agree with taking funding from already existing programs and would much prefer to get those reprioritized funds added back on to the authorizing budget, we understand the new dynamics of a changed Congress.  It is of merit to find that Chairwoman Tauscher and the Minority Leader Rep. Everett allowed MDA to submit where and what programs those reallocated funds would come from instead of making a political decision themselves.

Quite significant in this overall mark is the initial, official viewpoint from a Democratic Majority House of Representatives of the third site in Europe.  Listed below are the four key statements that were made with this mark:

1. Signed agreements from the prospective countries to host the European missile defense third site must be in place before requesting the needed $160 million to develop the site
2. No authorizing language requiring the consensus of NATO approval for a third site
3. $160 million allocated to developing the 10 ground-based interceptors for the European third site, site design activity and radar modifications were fully funded and approved
4. Importance of an independent assessment of the Administration's proposal for the European third site required by the mark

MDAA fully endorses each and every one of these four initial positions on the European third site held by the House Armed Services Committee.  As protectors and stewards of our American Public and their tax dollars, this is a prudent approach that puts forward and accepts investment in the European third site, as well as requiring due diligence so that Europe, our Armed Forces stationed there, and our homeland will have protection against ballistic missile threats from Iran and the Middle East.

We thank you for your efforts last week to make your voices heard to those on the Strategic Forces Committee.   MDAA also made its voice heard, as I had the privilege to advocate our position to the Honorable Chairwoman Ellen Tauscher in person soon after the initial mark was made last week.

She Listened

Respectfully,

Now the Democratic majority in Congress is moving toward budget cuts aimed at slowing the administration's plans to break ground this year on one of the bases, in Poland. Representative Ellen O. Tauscher, a California Democrat who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the committee would approve "only prudent investments" in what she labeled "high-risk, immature programs" to shoot down long-range missiles, like the system advocated for Europe.

The administration wants to begin digging silos for 10 interceptors in Poland and laying the foundation for a tracking radar in the Czech Republic this year to defend Europe against what it calls a looming long-range ballistic missile threat from Iran. But in a vote scheduled for Wednesday, the House committee was expected to approve only a study of the "political, technical, operational, force structure and budgetary aspects" of the European sites.

The bill, still under consideration late Wednesday, would cut $160 million from funds proposed for construction in Poland, as part of $764 million in cuts from the $8.9 billion the administration has sought for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency in 2008.

A cut of $160 million would prevent breaking ground on the interceptor silos in Poland, while leaving funds to move forward with buying the 10 interceptor missiles and installing the radar for the Czech Republic, Congressional officials say.

The bill would also face a vote by the full House. Similar discussions are under way in the Senate, where the new Democratic majority is also skeptical of missile defense.

Administration officials say the proposals for two antimissile bases in former Soviet satellites in Central Europe are a modest but important step toward establishing a system of high-technology global sentries capable of shooting down warheads fired off by an adversary with a limited arsenal of ballistic missiles.

But in a critical assessment of the missile defense program issued in March, the Government Accountability Office noted that the antimissile program "cannot yet be fully assessed because there have been too few flight tests conducted to anchor the models and simulations that predict overall system performance."

In an interview, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, took issue with the report, saying, "I do believe we are on the right path." The American military is moving at full speed to prove that the system is capable of destroying a long-range enemy warhead in an environment that he says mirrors a real-world threat, and has its next test scheduled along the West Coast for the end of this month.

Even so, the administration says the United States must begin pouring concrete soon to have the European system operating by 2012 - to counter an Iranian long-range missile ability that American intelligence warns will be reached between 2010 and 2015. Pentagon officials have said that the emerging European system can also incorporate improvements in technology.

Last month, the administration opened a campaign in which the secretaries of state and defense, along with a team of other senior officials and generals, canvassed European capitals, including Moscow, to explain the limited nature of the system under consideration.

Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said recently that the missile defense system in Europe was intended to help protect American forces serving in NATO nations, and to help guarantee the security of those allies, at a time when the United States was moving ahead with its own system of missiles and radars to guard American territory.

"The fact is alliance security should be indivisible," Mr. Fried added. "And if Europe is vulnerable to Iranian missiles, that means we're insecure as well."