ISSUE AREAS:

MISSILE DEFENCE

Description of BASIC's Program
BASIC Publications
History of NMD
The European Debate
Global Quotations on NMD
Other Publications/Reports
Links

Hot Topics! 

The Missile Defence Debate Gap in Britain: As Wide As Ever in 2004, by Leyla Kattan and Nigel Chamberlain, BASIC Notes, 24 February 2005.

NATO and Missile Defence: Stay Tuned This Could Get Interesting, BASIC Note, 30 June 2004.

A BASIC guide to Missile Defence and the Weaponisation of Space, BASIC's latest information leaflet on Missile Defence is now available. To place order for printed copies, please contact Nigel Chamberlain on 020-7324 4684 or email nchamberlain at BASIC's usual email address.

A Long Way From Consensus: Threat Perceptions in European NATO and the Future of Missile Defense, Presentation by Dr Ian Davis (Executive Director, BASIC) to the Conference on Transatlantic Missile Defence, 5-7 April 2004.

Conference: Missile Defence - Threats, Responses and Projections, University of Bradford, Thursday 18 March 2004, co-hosted by the British American Security Information Council and Bradford Department of Peace Studies. Summaries of Presentations are now available.

BASIC acquires ‘confidential’ document on missile defence, BASIC Press Release on US-UK Memorandum of Understanding on Ballistic Missile Defence, 9 September 2003.

European Governments’ Official Positions on Missile Defence, BASIC Paper 42, February 2003.

Official UK position on Missile Defence, Basic Note, 7 February 2003

Inquiry into Missile Defence - Submission of Evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, (PDF), 8 January, 2003

International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation BASIC Note, 18 July 2002

The Future of Missile Defense:  A Growing Proxy Between the Political Left and Right? Presentation by Ian Davis, 26 June 2002

A Question of Intent:  Missile Defense and the Weaponization of Space by David Grahame, BASIC Note, 1 May 2002

Description of BASIC's Nuclear and WMD Program

Support from European governments and the public is vital for the Bush administration's successful development of a National Missile Defense (NMD) system.  The need for agreement among the allies is a practical consideration, since the United States must use radars at sites in Greenland and the United Kingdom to make the system operational.  

However, agreement with allies is complicated by expansive plans to deploy a system to protect the United States from ballistic missile attack. U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration plan deployment of land-, sea-, and space-based interceptors as soon as technically possible.  Bush's decision to abandon the ABM Treaty, which restricts development of missile defenses, casts a long shadow over the future of multilateral arms control and international law, threatening good relations with its European allies and unity within NATO.  

In this environment, BASIC aims to provide a transatlantic link in the NMD debate.  As the post-September 11^th world takes shape, BASIC seeks to broaden understanding in the United States and Europe of the threats that the system poses to international security, and works to encourage better understanding of other ways to combat proliferation risks.  Through reports, send-outs and briefings BASIC provides up-to-the-minute information on the latest twists and turns in the NMD debate.

Back to Nuclear and WMD