Backgound on the BMD Organization

The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization is a division within the Department of Defense and is responsible for managing, directing and excuting the Ballistic Missile Program. The three areas currently being pursued by the BMD Program are: Theater Missile Defense (TMD), National Missile Defense (NMD) and advanced ballistic missile defense technologies. The NMD system is a space and missile tracking system. It includes six fundamental components: a ground based interceptor; a ground based radar; early warning radars; foward based X-band radars; Space Based Infrared System; and battle management, command, control and communications. In July 1999, President Clinton signed legislation that will permit the deployment of the NMD system "as soon as technologically feasible." The President and Congress are contemplating the deployment of a system that has little possibility of success. Instead of wasting billions testing undeveloped technology, defense efforts should concentrate on the enforcement of treaties to prevent the development of other counter-technologies.

• The NMD system is costly and inefficient. According to the Welch Report, issued in February 1998 by an independent team of missile defense experts, there have been only 4 successful interceptions out of 17 tests conducted by the BMD program. Over $120 billion has already been spent on BMD programs. In a July 29,1999 interview with the Los Angeles times, John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists noted that quality standards remain a serious concern, especially when one miss could cause horrendous casualties and irreparable damage.

• The NMD will threaten international relations and violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. According to the Constitution, only the President of the US has the authority to carry out, modify or terminate a treaty. President Clinton has announced that he will make a decision in June 2000 whether or not to deploy the NMD system. If Russia disagrees with the Presidential decision, it is likely to respond by using the same argument to no longer honor other international treaties such as the Biological and Chemical Weapons Convention.

• Development of the NMD system will increase the proliferation of nuclear technology. According to the Central Intelligence Agency, countries developing ballistic missiles have the capability to also develop anti-missile systems.

• BMD programs will spur additional offensive technologies that will threaten the security of the US. Russia and China each have developed numerous countermeasures and probably will be willing to sell those technologies.

• Corporations seem to be the only ones benefitting from BMD programs. Companies such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing are being awarded long-term contracts to work on a project that has almost zero possibility of success.

Action You Can Take to Keep Outer Space for Peaceful Uses Only

• Write a letter to President Clinton and to your Congressional representative. In your letter request an end to BMD funding and an end to the nuclearization and weaponization of outer space.

• Educate yourself and others in your community about nuclear issues.

For More Information

Scientific American, August 1999
"Why National Missile Defense Won't Work" by George Lewis, Theodore Postol and John Pike

Websites
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
The Fourth Freedom Forum
The Federation of American Scientists
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Council for a Livable World
INES, the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility

Prepared by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation on 9/24/99
Please circulate this information as widely as possible, but remember to cite the source.

Bruce and Karl emphasized that the Ballistic Missile "Defense" system is a stalking horse for the US Space Command's "Vision for 2020" - a report which proclaims:

"US Space Command--dominating the space dimensions of military operations to protect US interests and investment. Integrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities across the full spectrum of conflict."

So, as abolitionists, we need to make the case against all of it--not just ballistic missile "defense" which is only the first step on the road to a ruinous arms race to the heavens. The fact sheet should incorporate material from the "2020 Vision" report in order to give the public the whole context.

Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel: (212) 726-9161
fax: (212) 726-9160
email: aslater@gracelinks.org

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