A senior U-S defense official says scientists know how to fix the problems that caused a test of the national missile defense program to fail in January. Even the staunchest supporters of a national missile defense program say it will still take a lot of work to get a system up and running.
Opponents say it is going to take a scientific miracle.
But Major General Peter Franklin of the Defense Department's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization says the military is handling the technical problems that caused an interceptor rocket to miss a mock-enemy warhead over the Pacific Ocean in January. We know how to fix this and we will on subsequent flights. Washington's European allies have also voiced concern, and even the program's backers say its deployment could violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But Democratic Congressman John Spratt says Washington needs to move cautiously. He says diplomacy has actually gotten rid of more missiles than any defense program in the works could ever hope to shoot down.