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Test Failure "Important" to Fate of Missile Defense: Berger
President Bill Clinton's decision on deploying a national missile defense system will weigh a recent test failure as an "important" factor, his national security advisor, Samuel Berger, said Sunday.
"Clearly the failure of the test on Saturday is important in assessing how far along this system is technologically ... Obviously, this does go to the question of technical feasibility," Berger said on the CBS program "Face The Nation."
Technical feasibility, Berger noted, is one of the four key criteria that Clinton has said he will consider in deciding whether to deploy a missile defense system.
On Saturday, White House spokesman PJ Crowley said it was too soon to know how the latest test might affect Clinton's decision.
The other three criteria, Berger said, include the nature of the missile threat against which the system is to defend, the cost of building the system and the "overall impact of such a system on our security, including arms control."
Regarding the nature of the missile threat, Berger said Clinton would consider "how serious" and "how advanced" it is.
The Pentagon has estimated the cost of an anti-missile shield to be some 60 billion dollars, though some experts say it may cost more. The cost of the test conducted Saturday, in which one missile failed to intercept another over the Pacific Ocean, has been estimated at 100 million dollars.
Critics have also warned that a new nuclear arms race, involving far greater costs in the future, could be triggered by US development of a national missile defense system.
"We will now wait for an assessment by the Defense Department over the next few weeks ... and then sometime this summer the president will make a decision whether to deploy this system or whether to defer that for a later point," Berger said.
He said input from other members of the president's cabinet, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, would also go into Clinton's decision.
Asked whether the botched missile interception might sway Clinton to postpone decision on the anti-missile shield, Berger reiterated that the test failure was "clearly" relevant to "the question of technical feasibility" but declined to pre-judge what Clinton would decide.
"He will look at all of those factors that I mentioned," said Berger.
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