Sponsor Statement for SJR 9: National Missile Defense System

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Session:
State Capitol, Room 516
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: (907) 465-2095
Fax: (907) 465-3810

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716 W 4th Avenue, Suite 520
Anchorage, AK 99501-2133
Phone: (907) 269-0240
Fax: (907) 269-0242

Relating to the development and deployment of the National Missile Defense System.

Contact: Paul Roetman, Legislative Aide to Senator Loren Leman, at (907) 465-3712.

Last Updated: February 2, 2001

SJR 9 expresses the Legislature's support for the deployment of a missile defense system that will protect all 50 states. Though the proliferation of ballistic missile technology by foreign nations and organizations is a growing threat to the U.S., there currently is not a system in place to successfully defend the nation from this danger.

On January 10, 2001, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen released a report entitled "Proliferation: Threat and Response." Commenting on the report Cohen stated, "our unrivaled supremacy in the conventional military arena is prompting adversaries to seek unconventional, asymmetric means to strike what they perceive as our Achilles heel." Approximately 25 countries have developed or are in the process of developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the means of delivering them to targets far away. This is a serious danger that demands an equally serious response.

Acting on this threat the Department of Defense has undertaken extensive planning efforts to develop a National Missile Defense System that will protect the United States from a ballistic missile attack. The resulting NMD system has been designed as a fixed, land-based, non-nuclear missile defense system. Alaska has been identified as the preferred location for locating the radar site and ground-based interceptors.

President Clinton had pursued development of an NMD system but put the deployment on hold. However in the first weeks of his Administration, President Bush has indicated he intends to go ahead with plans for building a nationwide missile defense.

SJR 9 calls upon President Bush to move forward with his intentions to make a National Missile Defense System a reality as soon as technologically possible.

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Attachments:

Proliferation: Threat and Response., 01-10-01
requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - 138 pages

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