1. National Press Compiled by Kristi Kendall, Community Relations Specialist, 907-552-1038 Email kristi.kendall@elmendorf.af.mil to Subscribe Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Fake Enemy Missile to be Launched from Kodiak Fake Enemy Missile to be Launched from Kodiak Alaska Press Alaska Missile Defense Weekly May 5-9 2003, Edition 62 Command Representative for Missile Defense 507 Days to IDO International Press Alaska Press National Press National Press Alaska Press Alaska Press International Press International Press Click on headlines to read the full story Pressing the ESC key on your keyboard ends PowerPoint show at any time ESC Associated Press Patriot Batteries Focus of Military Probe Patriot Batteries Focus of Military Probe

2. Fake Enemy Missile to be Launched From Kodiak Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Alaska), April 25, 2003 A simulated enemy ballistic missile will blast off in November from the Kodiak Launch Complex if all goes well. It is the first scheduled Kodiak launch of this type from the Missile Defense Agency since a similar test failed two years ago. The launch is part of testing for the Ground Based Midcourse Defense Program. The missile is a three-stage solid-fuel rocket with a dummy warhead. According to the Alaska Aerospace Development Corp., the public agency that owns the Kodiak launch facility, it will be targeted toward an impact point in the ocean near the Reagan Test Site in the western Pacific. The launch is a test of the prototype radars for the anti-missile system, said Rick Lehner of the missile defense agency. It will test improvements to tracking, data collection and communications that will be used on future launches from Kodiak. The launch will not require building new silos and is not affected by the still incomplete Environmental Impact Statement for silos at the Kodiak Launch Complex. Military and government leaders have yet to decide whether Kodiak will play a role in the intercepting missile system. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

3. Patriot Batteries Focus of Military Probe Associated Press, May 7, 2003. Pentagon investigators suspect U.S. Patriot anti-missile batteries may have shot down two coalition jets over Iraq because the systems mistook the planes for Iraqi missiles. Investigations of the incidents - responsible for three of the war's five aircraft shootdown fatalities - are focusing on a system touted by the Army as a reliable missile-killer but one which has been repeatedly plagued by problems hitting its targets... The U.S. military is investigating three Patriot incidents: the White case; the downing of a British Tornado jet on March 22 that killed both airmen aboard; and two days after the Tornado shootdown, when a U.S. F-16 pilot fired a missile at a Patriot battery, believing the radar had targeted his plane. The pilot's missile damaged the Patriot radar battery; no one was injured... Pentagon officials say their probes have not determined whether all three incidents were caused by the same problem or whether mistaken identity was to blame. But top officials at U.S. Central Command strongly suspect misidentification. Jets flying in certain ways can appear to Patriot radar systems as incoming missiles, according to officials from Central Command and the Army, which operates the Patriots. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

4. National Press National Press Compiled by Kristi Kendall, Community Relations Specialist, 907-552-1038 Email kristi.kendall@elmendorf.af.mil to Subscribe Aerospace Daily MDA Plan: Adding GMD Interceptors Possible MDA Plan: Adding GMD Interceptors Possible House Panel Boosts PAC-3, Cuts New Boost-Phase Interceptors House Panel Boosts PAC-3, Cuts New Boost-Phase Interceptors Boston Globe Lost Data Will Not Hinder Weapons Review Lost Data Will Not Hinder Weapons Review Raytheons Battle Raytheons Battle Defense Daily First Increment of Missile Defense Command/Ctrl Software Demonstrated First Increment of Missile Defense Command/Ctrl Software Demonstrated HASC Beefs Up Funds for Projection Forces, Shift Some Missile Defense Dollars HASC Beefs Up Funds for Projection Forces, Shift Some Missile Defense Dollars MDA Wants Industry Input to Devise Strategy MDA Wants Industry Input to Devise Strategy Defense News Interview: Lt General Kadish, Director U.S. Missile Defense Agency Interview: Lt General Kadish, Director U.S. Missile Defense Agency Economist When Bluff Turns Deadly – North Korea When Bluff Turns Deadly – North Korea Inside Missile Defense MDAs New GMD Flight Test Plans Include Modifications, Cancellations MDAs New GMD Flight Test Plans Include Modifications, Cancellations Scripps-Howard Missile Defense Radar May Protect Against Tornadoes Missile Defense Radar May Protect Against Tornadoes Seattle Weekly The Next Generation The Next Generation Washington Post Radar Probed in Patriot Incidents Radar Probed in Patriot Incidents Washington Times Missile Threats Missile Threats North Korea May Export Nukes North Korea May Export Nukes Alaska Press Alaska Press Alaska Missile Defense Weekly xx-xx Month 03, Issue xx Command Representative for Missile Defense National Press 510 Days to IDO International Press International Press

5. MDA Plan Leaves Open Possibility of Adding GMD Interceptors Aerospace Daily, April 29, 2003. The head of the Missile Defense Agency has approved a plan that would make it easier to enlarge the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system in Alaska if the Defense Department decided to pursue such an expansion, an agency spokesman said April 28. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of MDA, signed documents last week that conclude GMD will have no major environmental impact and that give MDA the ability to install up to 40 interceptor silos at Ft. Greely, Alaska, without having to go through another environmental review, a process that can take about two years. Currently, MDA intends to deploy only 16 interceptors at Ft. Greely. MDA spokesman Rick Lehner told The DAILY there is "no requirement" and "no funding" for more than 16 interceptors at Ft. Greely, but the documents Kadish signed give MDA the option to deploy more interceptors if the U.S. faces an increased threat from long-range ballistic missiles. "At least we'd have that flexibility in the future," Lehner said. Lehner said the area where the 16 interceptors will be located could easily accommodate 24 more interceptors. MDA also is doing an environmental review for Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., where plans call for deploying four GMD interceptors. It is unclear whether that review will provide environmental clearance for additional interceptors. The Bush Administration announced last December that it plans to deploy 16 GMD interceptors at Ft. Greely and four at Vandenberg by 2005. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

6. House Panel Boosts PAC-3, Cuts New Boost-Phase Interceptors Aerospace Daily, May 8, 2003. The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee agreed May 7 to scale back the Missile Defense Agency's new boost-phase interceptor program but add more than $200 million to the Bush Administration's fiscal 2004 budget request for the Patriot and THAAD anti-missile systems. While fully funding the Administration's $9.1 billion request for ballistic missile defense (BMD), the panel approved an FY '04 defense authorization bill that transfers $282 million from "longer term pay-off" programs to "more near-term requirements, particularly in the area of theater missile defense," subcommittee Chairman Terry Everett (R- Ala.) said. The bill adds $90 million to buy 30 more PAC-3 missiles than the 108 missiles that the Administration requested. The bill also adds $79 million for PAC-3 research and development, $10 million for PAC-2 R&D, and $36 million to upgrade Patriot radars and launch communications. The Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would get an extra $37 million to speed up testing. The subcommittee also approved an additional $22.9 million to enhance the sea-based X-band radar that MDA is developing for a planned Pacific test bed, and $7 million for communications improvements for the USS Lake Erie, which is used as a test ship for missile defense. To pay for the increases, the subcommittee cut about $150 million from the $301 million the Administration requested to begin developing ground, sea and space-based missiles that could intercept targets in their boost phase. Lawmakers are not convinced that the program is mature enough for the full amount requested. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

7. Lost Data Will Not Hinder Weapon s Review Boston Globe, May 8, 2003. Some of the Patriot anti-missile units in the Iraq war lacked data recorders to track their performance, U.S. Army officers said this week, and a number of the recorders that were deployed malfunctioned. While it is unclear whether the lack of electronic data will delay the military's ongoing reviews of the Patriot's performance during the war, a senior commander said the investigations will go forward. The Patriot, most of which are made by Raytheon Co. of Lexington, was redesigned in 1995 to include optical disks and devices called "embedded data recorders" to preserve tactical information, according to a company fact sheet. But only some of the Patriot units sent to the Iraq war were equipped with the data-recording devices, according to Army officials, and some of those broke, due to wear and environmental factors. In some cases, the military will rely on hard-copy records that are available because troops operating the units were trained to hit a key much like the "print screen" command on a personal computer every few seconds, say military officers who acknowledge the systems are out of date. The tape drives and printouts amount to "an antiquated portion of our system," said Major General Stanley E. Green, commander of the Army's Air Defense Artillery Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, where many Patriot-armed troops are based... But officials have enough other information to generate a comprehensive picture of what occurred from the hard-copy records and from data recorded by nearby radars and sensors, both officers said. The printouts included information such as the speed, heading and altitude of aircraft in the area. The data-recorders provide a more complete version of such information, at more frequent intervals. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

8. Raytheons Battle Boston Globe, May 3, 2003. As the shooting ends in Iraq, Raytheon Co. faces a different battle: closing international sales for its Patriot air-defense systems. These lucrative orders would help Raytheon maintain profit margins and preserve jobs in Massachusetts, after a layoff of about 200 employees last month because of soft overseas demand for the Patriot. Lexington-based Raytheon faces a complicated marketing task however. U.S. officials credit the Patriot surface-to-air defensive missile with knocking down nine Iraqi tactical ballistic missiles. But Patriot batteries also were involved in several friendly-fire incidents that killed at least two allied jet pilots and perhaps a third. Absent more facts, such as how many Patriot missiles were fired, some potential customers, including Brig. General Sumit Mukerji, a defense official in the Indian embassy in Washington, say they are not ready to buy the system just yet...Like other large defense contractors, Raytheon hopes the performance of its weapons during the Iraq war will boost exports... Questions about Patriot's performance in the 1991 Gulf War didn't prevent Raytheon from booking $2.4 billion in foreign sales by 1994 from customers including Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Israel... For Taiwan and other current customers, a main question is whether to upgrade to PAC-3 [a hit-to-kill design made by Lockheed Martin Corp.]. Kuwait, for instance, is expected to place a large order with one of the U.S. contractors to replenish the missiles it fired during the war... Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Alasfoor, a Kuwaiti defense official, said the country's military is torn between the two products, although Kuwaiti officers were pleased with the Patriot's performance overall. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

9. First Increment of Missile Defense Command and Control Software Demonstrated Defense Daily, April 29, 2003. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and members of the missile defense national industry team (NIT) this month demonstrated the first increment of battle management command control and communications (BMC3) software in demonstrations at Colorado Springs, Colo., MDA and industry officials said last week. The Lockheed Martin component of the NIT demonstrated the first increment of the BMC3 software in a scenario this month that involved multiple missile attacks on several locations, an MDA official told Defense Daily. Industry officials said the scenario included incoming ballistic missile attacks on Japan, Hawaii and the west coast of the United States with the BMC3 software operating as if those shots were simultaneous. This test was the first of many more planned for development of the overall ballistic missile defense system (BMDS)... In addition to this initial BMC3 software demonstration, MDA officials also recently held the BMDS 2003 wargame at Colorado Springs, the MDA official said. In that wargame, command and control for BMDS also was simulated with fire control software. The wargame, also played in Colorado Springs, also involved multiple launches against a variety of targets, the official noted. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

10. HASC Beefs Up Funds for Projection Forces, Shift Some Missile Defense Dollars Defense Daily, May 8, 2003. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) panels, marking up their versions of the FY '04 Defense Authorization Bill yesterday, beefed up funding for a variety of key procurement programs including adding money for another Boeing C-17 airlifter, some seed money for a next-generation bomber and another 30 Lockheed Martin Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles... The HASC subcommittee on strategic forces, marking up its version of the defense bill, recommended a $177 million boost over the $58 billion request for programs in its jurisdiction. The mark maintained the requested $9.1 billion for the ballistic missile defense programs under the Missile Defense Agency and the military services. However, it shifted $282 million of those funds into "near term requirements" or systems previously classified in past years as "theater" missile defense systems. Part of that funding shift would allow for procurement of an added 30 PAC-3s. The panel did not elaborate where the dollars were shifted from, saying only the theater programs received the increase. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

11. MDA Wants Industry Input to Devise Strategy for Space-Based Interceptor Test Bed Defense Daily, May 7, 2003. The Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Kinetic Energy Interceptors Program Office this week said it is collecting information on industry's ability to design, develop and implement a space-based test bed for ballistic missile defense interceptors. The program office is developing a procurement strategy to get this capability and wants industry's help constructing it, MDA said in a May 5 Federal Business Opportunities notice. Among many areas, MDA is interested in the ideas for the general design concept for a space-based interceptor testbed and what basic functionality is required to enable an operational capability. MDA also is interested in an evaluation of a boost/ascent performance of concepts against various ballistic missiles. Industry also must include information on the concept that would tie into MDA's command and control and sensor capabilities. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

12. Interview: LT Gen Kadish, Director U.S. MDA Defense News, April 29, 2003. In December 2001, when President George W. Bush announced the nation's withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which banned [ballistic missile defense] systems, [Ronald] Kadish was handed a new challenge: defining how such systems would be built. He heads a powerful agency that competes with the military services for national attention, commands an annual budget of about $9 billion, and is often the test bed for U.S. acquisition reform ideas. Q. What deadlines and budgets have you set to meet Bush's goal of deploying missile defenses by 2004 or 2005? A. We have asked for a [$9.1 billion] budget from Congress and we will try to remain within the request we have made. We have set internal deadlines for the program and are building a test bed. But to go beyond that, to make it more operationally capable, we have asked for money and authorization from Congress. If we get a continuing resolution this year [for the 2004 budget] and don't get the appropriation on time, we may not be able to start some things for the fielding decision. Every day we miss we add more jeopardy to the schedule. More HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

13. Kadish Interview Cont. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

14. Kadish Interview Cont. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

15. When Bluff Turns Deadly - North Korea The Economist, May 3, 2003. With its bomb now out of the basement and on the front porch, will North Korea's nuclear ambitions be any easier to deal with? It helps a bit, said Colin Powell, America's secretary of state, earlier this week, that North Korea has acknowledged more of what it has been up to. But apparently it won't help much. North Korea not only told American diplomats informally at talks last week in Beijing that it already possesses nuclear weapons, but this week strongly implied that it had deployed them, ready for use. As more of the details of last week's talks between America, North Korea and China leak out, Mr. Powell seemed to be offering not so much a glimmer of hope, as an indication of how difficult it will be to resolve the nuclear stand-off peacefully, and by diplomatic means. George Bush, for his part, has already said that North Korea is back to its bad old habits of threats and "blackmail." In Beijing, North Korea did offer eventually, if somewhat belligerently, to give up both its bombs and its missiles. But it demanded in return a set of conditions that American officials say amount to a complete non-starter. More HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

16. When Bluff Turns Deadly (Cont.) HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

17. MDA'S New GMD Flight Test Plans Include Modifications, Cancellations Inside Missile Defense, April 30, 2003 The Missile Defense Agency plans significant changes to its flight test plans for the system that will provide an initial defense against a ballistic missile attack starting in September 2004, MDA has told Congress. The changes are sure to draw the attention of lawmakers as they begin mark-ups of the fiscal year 2004 defense authorization bill this week, a congressional source told IMD... The changes include modifications to four tests over the next 12 months and the cancellation of six others, according to documents the agency sent to Congress in February along with its fiscal year 2004 budget request. In addition, a multiple, simultaneous engagement test of the ground-based midcourse defense system mandated by the fiscal year 2002 Defense Authorization Act has been pushed back from the second quarter of fiscal year 2005 to the second quarter of fiscal year 2007... Some on Capitol Hill also are concerned about fewer tests now planned per year, dropping from an average of four, as reported by MDA last year, to two... The FY-04 budget justification documents also show MDA has taken five previously planned integrated flight tests off the books: Nos. 19, 20, 25, 27 and 28. More HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

18. MDA s New GMD Flight Test Plans Cont. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

19. Missile Defense Radar May Protect Against Tornadoes Scripps Howard News Service, May 5, 2003. The advanced radar system used by Navy ships to detect an incoming missile or plane may someday double a city's warning time for an approaching tornado from an average 11 minutes to 22 minutes, government weather researchers believe. That would give people more time to reach shelter or even drive away from the tornado's path, which isn't practical now, said Doug Forsyth, chief of the radar research and development division at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla. On April 25, the laboratory opened a $30 million phased-array radar station. Testing begins this summer to determine whether the Lockheed Martin Spy-1 radar system used for Aegis-equipped cruisers can be adapted to weather forecasting. Doppler radar systems currently allow forecasters to peer inside a storm to measure wind velocity and rotation, the keys to predicting a storm's severity and the likelihood of tornadoes. But the Doppler system isn't as responsive as forecasters would like. "When you point a beam at any given storm you have to turn the dish either to be tilted or rotated to look at the storm," said Forsyth. And because you have to get different readings from various altitudes, it can take up to six minutes to get a complete reading, he said. Phased-array radars could gather the same information in one minute. The secret? No dish, said Forsyth. The antenna used in phased-array radar is a flat metal panel that never moves. Instead the operator electronically moves the pulse from point to point on the surface to change the direction of the beam. If the radar detects something, the beams can be focused on a particular storm... Still, it could be 10 to 15 years before phased-array radars are tested and deployed for weather forecasts. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

20. The Next Generation Seattle Weekly, May 7 - 13, 2003. So George Bush wants to deploy an untested missile defense system to protect Seattle (and maybe even Tacoma) against an untested North Korean missile, the Taepo-Dong 2, that might or might not carry the nuclear weapons that the world's sole remaining Stalinist theme park might or might not possess. Fine by me. So, too, is the notion that we'd learn a great deal by fielding the system's initial components. We would. Be they ever so humble, data sets is data sets. If it's true that we learn more from failures than successes, we're about to get very smart, indeed. And at least the Pentagon crew (who have never much cared for missile defense) are being honest when they admit that they have absolutely no idea what the final system might look like or how well it would work or what it could cost. And that gives me hope. Because it's time all sides started arguing this issue from a position of total ignorance... Sadly, both sides insist on basing their arguments on knowledge, i.e., on extrapolations of existing and unclassified missile defense technologies... So what breakthroughs might be nice? Two, for example. First, radar has its limits. High-altitude nuclear detonations tend to make it warm, fuzzy, and useless... But what about using particle beams as sensors? In theory, these can "jiggle" the threat cloud, differentiating real-by-golly (as Rumsfeld would say) warheads from chaff, balloons, and back issues of The Sublime Thoughts of Beloved Leader. In tandem with advanced sensors, infrared or other, which can differentiate between sublime thoughts and heavy metal by temperature, it might prove workable. Second, weaponry has issues... Now we play with kinetic energy, a.k.a. "hit to kill" interceptors. No explosives, so if you miss by a yard, you might as well have fired into the ground. But if the Pentagon (actually, the Energy Department) develops, as touted, a new generation of clean micronuke "bunker busters," these might have more uses than merely firing into the ground... Of itself, missile defense seems, and probably is, scantly more than a set of sorta-kinda-maybe-maybe-not interacting gizmos that you wouldn't want to depend on for much beyond minimal deterrence. But as part of an integrated plan for the offensive and defensive weaponization of space, drawing upon the quantum advances in space technology that are quite probable over the next decade or two, and given sufficient federal and private interest and money, the thing could work... Is missile defense feasible? Like so much else, it all depends on what your definition of "is" is. Philip Gold is president of Aretéa, a Seattle-based policy and cultural affairs center. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

21. Radar Probed in Patriot Incidents Washington Post, May 8, 2003. Investigators probing mistaken attacks by U.S. Patriot batteries on an American and a British warplane during the Iraq war are focusing on the possibility that tracking radars generated false targets and confused Patriot operators, according to officials familiar with the investigation. In both cases, the officials said, soldiers thought they were firing at enemy missiles, not aircraft. Struggling to explain how the Patriot system could have been fooled, since radar profiles of planes normally differ markedly from those of faster-moving missiles, some leading Army and industry experts now suspect that electromagnetic interference played a part. The interference, they contend, likely resulted from the close proximity of multiple Patriot radars, as well as concentrations of other electronic gear, including ground-based artillery radars, airborne surveillance sensors and warplane jammers. "This is the densest battlefield we've seen," said Army Brig. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, who had charge of U.S. air defenses during the war. "I believe there could be something there. That's my personal belief." Bromberg and other officials cautioned that the investigation is far from finished. One source briefed on preliminary results said radar interference could explain only one of the incidents. He cited different factors for the other case, including the aircraft's failure to broadcast proper identification codes and improper Patriot settings used to identify targets on the basis of speed, altitude, trajectory and other characteristics. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

22. Missile Threats Washington Times, May 2, 2003. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said this week that one consequence of the ouster of Saddam Hussein is that Iraq's growing threat of long-range missiles has been stopped. "It doesn't look like Iraq will be back in the missile business and that's a big step forward," Mr. Wolfowitz told us. A recent CIA report on foreign missile threats stated that Iraq under Saddam was bent on building both medium- and long-range missiles. The report said "Iraq would be likely to test an ICBM probably masked as an [space-launch vehicle] before 2015, possibly before 2010." It noted that Baghdad could have purchased long-range missile components or entire systems from North Korea. Mr. Wolfowitz said the growing threat of missiles "is a real one." "Missiles remain one of the key ways that countries, that in most other respects would be militarily weaker than we are, will try to get at us if they want to do bad things," he said. Mr. Wolfowitz also said the Patriot anti-missile systems used against Iraqi missiles, while not perfect, have improved considerably. "We may not be able to prove it, but I suspect a lot of casualties were prevented because of the success of our shorter-range defenses," he said. "We're making remarkable progress in the ability to hit a bullet with a bullet. If we keep at it, I think we can have a capability to keep up with that emerging threat. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

23. North Korea May Export Nukes Washington Times, May 7, 2003. North Korea threatened during recent talks in Beijing to export nuclear arms or add to its arsenal, in addition to saying it will test an atomic bomb, The Washington Times has learned. North Korea's negotiator in the talks, Li Gun, made the threat during an "aside" session with Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, said U.S. officials familiar with the closed-door meeting in Beijing. "This was clearly a threat," said one official familiar with reports of the three-way talks among the United States, North Korea and China... The North Korean diplomat said the course that Pyongyang follows will be directly related to how the United States responds to its overtures. Mr. Kelly rejected the words as a threat and thus unacceptable as a means of resolving the nuclear crisis, the officials said. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

24. Compiled by Kristi Kendall, Community Relations Specialist, 907-552-1038 Email kristi.kendall@elmendorf.af.mil to Subscribe Europe European Stars & Stripes Army Stands Behind Patriot Missile System Army Stands Behind Patriot Missile System Their Work Done, Some Patriot Missile Crews Head Home Their Work Done, Some Patriot Missile Crews Head HomeCanada Agence France Presse Greenland Demands U.S. Clean Up Chemical Waste at Air Base Greenland Demands U.S. Clean Up Chemical Waste at Air Base Canadian Press Cabinet Divided Over Missile Defense System Cabinet Divided Over Missile Defense System Globe & Mail Canada, U.S. on Collision Course Over Missile Plan Canada, U.S. on Collision Course Over Missile Plan Times Colonist We Must Be a Part of Missile Shield We Must Be a Part of Missile Shield Toronto Star Star Wars? Just Say No, Ottawa Star Wars? Just Say No, OttawaReuters Mexico Eyes SARS, Missile Defense for Americas Security Agenda Mexico Eyes SARS, Missile Defense for Americas Security Agenda Alaska Missile Defense Weekly xx-xx Month 03, Issue xx Command Representative for Missile Defense 510 Days to IDO National Press National Press Alaska Press Alaska Press International Press International Press International Press

25. Army Stands Behind Patriot Missile System as Critics Question its Value European Stars and Stripes, May 6, 2003. Praising the embattled Patriot missile system's performance during the recent war against Iraq, the Army's top air defender said the controversial missile-killer "did a fantastic job, a record that will be hard to equal." "I'm terribly proud of what the soldiers and systems did," Maj. Gen. Stanley E. Green said in an exclusive interview with Stars and Stripes. The Patriot is credited with intercepting at least nine short-range Iraqi missiles during the conflict. That's out of about 20 Iraqi missile attacks, said Green, commander of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center, Fort Bliss, Texas. He added some of those "were not engageable." "Hopefully what we've demonstrated to potential enemies is that they're wasting their money on ballistic missiles," he said. Definitive analysis is under way, Green said. The Patriot is being investigated in at least three friendly fire incidents during the conflict... But Green, who led a Patriot task force in Israel during the conflict, defended the missile system's performance...Initially touted by the Pentagon as one of the [1991 Gulf War's] biggest success stories - credited with protecting Israel and Saudi Arabia from dozens of Iraqi Scuds - later investigations showed only a fraction were actually destroyed for certain... Things are being handled much differently this time around, Green said. "Because it was so controversial last time 13 years ago, we know it's going to come up again so we want to be able to provide the right data," Green said. "That data is being reduced now so that we can say not only what we hit, but when we hit it and what our levels of effectiveness were. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

26. Their Work Done, Some Patriot Missile Crews Head Home European Stars and Stripes, May 6, 2003. One of the first units dispatched for desert duty was the [Patriot] 69th Brigade's 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment out of Babenhausen. Originally sent to Israel for war games in January, the task force quickly shifted to real world air defense as the United States began its military buildup amid fears Iraq would lash out against the Jewish nation, as it did during the first Persian Gulf War... Dubbed Task Force Cobra, in the end the contingent never had to bare its fangs. Iraq's lackluster counterattacks were all aimed south toward advancing U.S. troops from Kuwait. While some troops are still packing up their gear for shipment back to Germany, the first soldiers have already returned. Everyone is expected home in the next few weeks, [Maj. Gen. Stanley E. Green, commander of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center in Fort Bliss, Texas] said... With Iraq subdued, however, the good news for the entire Patriot community is that the overall tempo of deployments could ease in the coming years. Soldiers in the Army's 10 Patriot battalions have been among some of the busiest in the military over the past 13 years. First tested in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, at least one Patriot battalion has been split between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on six-month deployments ever since... Meanwhile, soldiers also have had to man the single Patriot battalion in South Korea under one-year hardship tours... Already, Pentagon officials have announced a nearly complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia, where Prince Sultan Air Base has been a home away from home for many Patriot crews. Green said a review is now under way to assess the threat posed by Syria and Iran, which both field arsenals of long missiles. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

27. Greenland Demands U.S. Clean Up Chemical Waste at Air Base Agence France Presse, May 6, 2003. Greenland has demanded that the United States clean up 54 chemical waste and heavy metal dumpsites polluting the U.S. Thule Air Base on the Arctic island. "Greenland will never accept such extensive pollution," the head of Greenland's local government, Hans Enoksen, told Greenland's radio. Enoksen's comments came after the environmental group Greenpeace on Monday said a 4,000-page classified U.S. report it had obtained on the dumpsites indicated that the extent of the pollution was unknown. Enoksen's demand for information from the U.S. is expected to top the agenda when Denmark and Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, present their joint response in the coming weeks to a U.S. request to modernise the Thule base for use in a controversial missile defence shield. The head of Greenland's environmental agency, Hans Hoejer, said he was unaware of the nature or extent of the waste at the Thule base. The pollution issue comes at a sensitive time, as Danish government officials press Greenlanders to approve the U.S. request to allow a technical upgrading of the base. Thule is thought to be one of the major listening posts required for the Missile Defense shield to be operational. The Danish government is expected to announce its formal decision soon, according to government officials, but it is known to be favourable to the U.S. plan. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

28. Cabinet Divided Over Missile Defense System Canadian Press, May 8, 2003. Liberal MPs opposed to Canadian participation in the U.S. missile defence system say they think cabinet will bow to pressure from within the party and delay a decision -- expected next week -- on opening talks with Washington. While many Liberal backbenchers favour missile defence, those who oppose it kept the debate bubbling behind closed doors at a caucus meeting yesterday and gave the cabinet much food for thought... Under opposition questioning later yesterday in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said he's in no hurry on missile defence. "We're not rushing, we're debating," he said. While that may have slightly eased concerns by the NDP and Bloc Quebecois -- both of whom oppose Canadian participation -- it upset the Canadian Alliance. Alliance Leader Stephen Harper said the government should be rushing. "Canada should at least have been involved in negotiations with the United States a long time ago," he said... Liberal MP David Pratt, chairman of the Commons defence committee and a supporter of missile defence, said there's much to be done if opponents are to be won over. "There's a real need to understand what the system is all about and I think we're going to get to that over the course of the next couple of weeks or so," he said. MP Bernard Patry, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said he would like to hold public hearings on the question. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

29. Canada, U.S. on Collision Course Over Missile Plan Globe and Mail (Canada), May 7, 2003. Ottawa and Washington are embarking on a collision course over the missile-defence program, as the Pentagon said yesterday that plans involve the placement of defensive weapons in space. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham countered that Ottawa, which opposes the weaponization of space, will enter into official negotiations with the United States on the use of "Earth-based" systems. "What we will be discussing with the United States is ballistic-missile defence. Nothing more, nothing less. That is directed toward an Earth-based interceptor missile, which would intercept another missile coming in from another country," Mr. Graham said after Question Period. The Pentagon believes that missile defence ultimately will include space-based interceptors, which would try to shoot down an enemy's ballistic missile shortly after its launch, during the boost phase. "These would be small, non-explosive interceptors that would collide with a target," Rick Lehner, the spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency, said in an interview. Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said that while missile defence might include space-based technology, it would be for defensive purposes. "We are looking at defence, not weapons."... Mr. Lehner said plans for space-based interceptors are in the concept-design phase, but testing could begin in 2008. Federal-government sources said there was strong support in the Canadian cabinet yesterday for the missile-defence program during a first round of discussions by ministers... Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said he will reveal his decision at the next cabinet meeting, but his intentions were clear during Question Period. He said the program is different than the massive shield, dubbed Star Wars, discussed under former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. "This is a different project that is related to the protection of the North-American territory. It is geographically necessary that we participate, at least in discussions [with the United States]," Mr. Chrétien said. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

30. We Must Be a Part of Missile Shield Times Colonist (Victoria), May 6, 2003. Defence Minister John McCallum is asking the federal cabinet today to approve discussions with the United States that could involve Canada in a North American missile defence shield. The idea horrifies those who subscribe to our traditional opposition to nuclear weapons, especially those that might be based on Canadian soil... Paul Martin and Finance Minister John Manley have decided, like McCallum, that it's time our role in continental defence should change. Even Foreign Minister Bill Graham, who was worried last year that the missile defence system planned by the Americans could lead to "the weaponization of outer space," now supports the change. Times have changed since former U.S. president Ronald Reagan in the '80s proposed a system of missile defence involving land and space-based warning and guidance installations... The ABM Treaty is no longer a factor... And today Russia, far from opposing U.S. missile defence plans, is interested in sharing the technology. China and Japan, which also initially opposed a missile shield system, are talking about their own versions of missile defence today... Defence analysts have determined that even if this country doesn't become politically or militarily involved, Canada has a role in North American missile defence -- that role is "debris acceptance."... Many Canadians would feel more comfortable if the missile defence system was coordinated by the North American Air Defence Command (Norad) in which Canada is a partner. U.S. defence officials have indicated that if Canada is not a partner, there is no reason why the missile defence capability shouldn't be run as part of the U.S. homeland defence structure. Canadian analysts say this would spell the end of Norad. Canada needs to be part of the U.S. missile defence system, if only to make sure that we're in the command centre when the missiles are launched, and that Canadians count for more than just potential collateral damage. HomeNext Canada s Role in Continental Defence Should Be More Than 'Debris Acceptance' From Above AlaskaNationalInternational

31. Star Wars? Just Say No, Ottawa Toronto Star, May 4, 2003. Canada may soon join the multi-billion-dollar U.S. effort to build the ultimate boy-toy, otherwise known as the missile defence program. Ottawa, appropriately, shunned the scheme when it was announced by the Bush administration last December. But Ottawa may be about to give in to pressure from Washington to sign on to the project, to make amends for our alleged infidelity over Iraq... Of course, as a sovereign country, we don't need to make amends for not joining America's war (and our hunch that Iraq posed no threat to our neighbour turned out to be correct). If Ottawa does join the missile project, it will undoubtedly insist that the decision had absolutely nothing to do with appeasing Washington, that we - entirely on our own! - came up with the idea of abandoning Canada's longstanding commitment to international arms control... Much of the pressure on Ottawa is coming from our own aerospace companies and business lobby groups like the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which has set up a CEO Action Group to push for closer business and military ties with the U.S. A key player is Derek Burney, former chief of staff to Brian Mulroney, and now president of CAE Inc. of Montreal, which is already supplying U.S. giant Boeing with software systems for the missile defence program. But Canadian corporate access to the really big contracts is clearly contingent upon Ottawa's support - financially and politically - for the program... Of course, Canadian taxpayers might prefer to spend their money on things other than helping Canadian companies become part of the U.S. military-industrial complex. But, Washington, all pumped-up after its conquest of Iraq, is signalling to the world that the American way of war has replaced the American way of life. Nations wanting in on the military spending spree better get on board... Paul Martin told The Star's Les Whittington last week that as prime minister, he would commit to the U.S. missile shield, partly to protect Canadian sovereignty as the shield is developed. "What possible benefit is it for us to stay away from the table?" he asked. He's got a point; apart from taking a stand for peace and the survival of life on this planet, there probably aren't a whole lot of benefits. Linda McQuaig is a Toronto-based author and political commentator. Her column appears every Sunday. HomeNext AlaskaNationalInternational

32. Mexico Eyes SARS, Missile Defense for Americas Security Agenda Reuters, May 6, 2003. The deadly SARS virus merits a place on the agenda for an Organization of American States ministerial meeting on security alongside the U.S. missile defense plan, Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said on Tuesday. The OAS meeting on hemispheric security is expected to be held in Mexico in October or November...Derbez was non-committal on the U.S. National Missile Defense plan. "I am not saying Mexico is ready to take part in it. I am saying Mexico will seek, along with other countries in the Americas, what is the correct definition of hemispheric security," Derbez said. "What should be the basis of this new structure of hemispheric security and in what way do we incorporate issues not only from a military point of view. That is what we will discuss," Derbez said during his visit to Canada. U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico both opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and have been non-committal on the missile defense system. Both have seen their relations with Washington cool. AlaskaNationalInternational Home Press ESC to End