Wolfowitz Delivers Misleading, Exaggerated NMD Testimony
July 16, 2001
For immediate release: July 16, 2001
Contact: John Isaacs (202 543-4100 x.131) Steve LaMontagne (202 543-4100 x.100)
Washington, D.C--Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation today accused Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz of delivering misleading testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last Thursday to build support for national missile defense deployment.
Wolfowitz stated on July 12: “In 1972, we knew of only five countries that had nuclear weapons. Today we know of 12 with nuclear weapons programs. In 1972, we knew of a total of nine countries that had ballistic missiles. Today we know of 28. And in just the last five years more than 1,000 of those missile of all ranges have been produced.”
The Council charged Wolfowitz of exaggerating the threat to the U.S.
According to Stephen LaMontagne, the Center for Arms Control’s proliferation expert, “The number of countries with nuclear weapons programs has actually decreased since the end of the Cold War. Since 1990, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakstan, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil have all given up their nuclear programs and joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty as non-nuclear weapon states.” LaMontagne also pointed out that only four of the 28 countries that Wolfowitz says have ballistic missiles possess systems capable of hitting U.S. territory: Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom.
The latter two are U.S. allies, and Bush administration officials insist that missile defense is not directed at either Russia or China. Although North Korea is working on an intermediate- range missile that could possibly reach U.S. soil, it has declared a moratorium on ballistic missile flight tests until at least 2003.
“The majority of countries with ballistic missiles possess only short-range Scud-type missiles capable of traveling modest distances. The list includes countries such as Argentina, the Czech Republic, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, Hungary, and Israel that are not considered threats to the U.S., and to some of which the U.S. itself has supplied missile technology,” asserted LaMontagne..
LaMontagne also pointed out that the overall number of missiles pointed at the U.S. has dramatically decreased since the mid 1980s: The number of Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles pointed at the U.S. has been cut by more than half, from 2,318 to less than 1,100, and almost all U.S. and Russian intermediate-range missiles (totaling almost 2,700 missiles) have been eliminated under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, according to information from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace..
John Isaacs, president of Council for a Livable World, charged Wolfowitz is making a bad case worse by hyping the danger. “Wolfowitz is resorting to the classic Cold War technique of embellishing the enemy threat,” stated Isaacs.