Tony Thurmond: “Before we vote on the Dorgan amendment, I would like to make a few brief remarks and strongly urge my colleagues to…”

“Before we vote on the Dorgan amendment, I would like to make a few brief remarks and strongly urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment. First of all, let me be clear that the additional funds added in the bill for national missile defense are not to support a space-based or star wars defense system. In fact the funds are not to support a deployment decision at all. We have simply followed the advice of the Director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization who has informed the committee that about $800 million per year is needed to support a robust technology development effort. This additional funding is consistent with the administration's own NMD Program, which is supposed to preserve the option of deploying a system by 2003. Regardless of whether you support the Defend America Act, the administration's NMD plan, or some other approach, you should support the funding recommended by the committee to allow for a more comprehensive testing program. The Armed Services Committee did not earmark the funds for systems that are not currently being developed by the Department of Defense. We simply suggest more robust testing within the administration's own program. This program would rely on a ground-based system. Nothing associated with the additional funds in any way conflicts with the ABM Treaty or even with the administration's own 3-plus-3 NMD Program.”