We want control mechanisms that worked well in the past, should they be replaced, to be replaced only by better ones or more effective ones. The ABM treaty, signed in 1972, prohibited the United States and the Soviet Union from building weapons to defend against each others' intercontinental ballistic missiles. China's official response came in the form of a written commentary by the official New China News Agency. The State Department announced that the administration is sending three teams of senior officials around the world to explain the initiative. Diplomatic costs aren't the only problem.
Financial costs are also an issue.
Pentagon officials have come to realize they face a painful dilemma in their desire to fund huge increases for conventional forces as well as for missile defense. But their hopes for additional money could be squeezed by Bush's budget deal withCongress, announced Wednesday. The initiative, as described by Bush, pursues many targets at once. It speeds development of a ship-based system that would knock down missiles just after blastoff. And it will pour money into new research on space weapons and antimissile lasers carried on aircraft.