Jane Harman: “I thank the chairman. Second, we have plussed up the ballistic missile defense piece of this defense bill, and I am…”

“I thank the chairman. Second, we have plussed up the ballistic missile defense piece of this defense bill, and I am fully supportive of that, but our program will not meet the threats for some years. There are immediate threats in some theaters around the world, one of which is Israel. I have been a strong supporter, as the gentleman knows, of our collaboration with Israel on various aspects of the ballistic missile defense budget. Just a few weeks ago the President and Prime Minister Peres signed a statement of intent providing that the Nautilus, which is a ground-based theater missile defense system, would be developed and deployed as soon as possible. I am disappointed that the administration has not included funding in this bill for the Nautilus program, but we in our subcommittee and then in the full committee included supportive language. I would like to talk to the chairman about this bill.”