Bob Kerrey: “a few weeks ago, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger joined what has become a chorus of distinguished citizens and…”

“a few weeks ago, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger joined what has become a chorus of distinguished citizens and representatives who are suggesting the decision to deploy the national missile defense system be postponed until after the November 7 Presidential election. Although it may be that a delay is necessitated for other reasons, I hope we do not allow the approach of a Presidential election to prevent us from making important foreign policy decisions. Not only do I believe this to be a precedent which would hamper future Presidential decisionmaking, but it also ignores the fact that this is a tough decision for any President to make anytime, regardless of the circumstances. It also ignores that it takes time for a new Commander in Chief at the helm of the ship to get his or her foreign policy sea legs. Such a delay could jeopardize our capacity to deploy NMD in a timely fashion. In his argument, Secretary Kissinger referred to 'congressionally imposed deadline.' This is a commonly made mistake about what Congress did last year. All we called for was deployment of national missile defense 'as soon as it is technologically possible.' The administration has said this decision could be made as early as June and has recently indicated this could slip to late summer. Of the four criteria that will be used by President Clinton to make his decision, the most difficult to quantify is the impact on other arms control agreements.…”