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Lawmakers Urge Clinton to Let Successor Decide on Missiles
US lawmakers urged US President Clinton on Sunday to let his successor decide whether to build a missile defense system after Saturday's failed test left him little wiser about whether the system will work.
Clinton is under some domestic pressure to take steps to construct a National Missile Defense System (NMD) at a cost of up to $60 billion.
Russia and China opposed such a system, with Russia arguing that it will undermine the deterrent force of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and China saying it will trigger a new global arms race.
US Republican and Democratic lawmakers urged Clinton on Sunday to press ahead with the project despite the fact that two out of three Pentagon tests, including Saturday's botched effort, failed to prove that the system will definitely work.
Ultimately, they said, this would allow the president who takes office when Clinton steps down on Jan. 20, 2001 to make the final decision with the benefit of more test data.
The US attempt to intercept and destroy a dummy warhead in space failed on Saturday because the "hit-to-kill" weapon fired from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific did not separate from the second stage of its liftoff rocket.
The booster's malfunction meant the sophisticated radar, sensors and communications systems that the Pentagon had hoped to test never got a chance to demonstrate their capabilities, shedding little light on the overall system's feasibility.
US officials believe the United States must make a decision this year so that construction can begin on a required radar system on Alaska's Shemya Island next spring.
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