Missile Defense and Poland's Transatlantic Relationship: Stormy Water Ahead

Abstract

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems by potential enemies is an ongoing security issue for the United States and its allies abroad. At the forefront confronting this threat is the United States' Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). According to the Missile Defense Agency, the BMDS is a collection of elements and components that are integrated to achieve the best possible performance against a full range of potential threats. Since the United States withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, the Missile Defense Agency has taken crucial steps to integrating the collective efforts of the Department of Defense to provide missile defense. A critical step is acquiring and positively engaging allies in this effort. International cooperation for the success of missile defense is essential. Regional efforts to acquire missile defense capabilities can be integrated with U.S. global missile defense priorities and objectives. Of particular note, lately, defense planners have considered the place of the proposed U.S. missile defense capabilities being planned in Poland and the Czech Republic. Should this leg of BMDS be deployed? Should it be integrated into NATO's strategic concept and NATO's emerging missile defense program, or should it be deployed along bilateral lines eschewing a multilateral context? This project will address these questions in addition to two additional concerns. First, it explores the practical implications of deploying components of BMDS with our new NATO ally Poland. Poland initially expressed a willingness to cooperate on ballistic missile defense. Lately, this zeal has cooled and the wisdom of deploying a system in Poland is not immediately obvious. This project will evaluate the strategic value of doing so in light of the project's second objective, the Russian response.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA540686

Entities

People

  • David H. Sacko

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Central Europe
  • Czech Republic
  • Defense Systems
  • Foreign Relations
  • Globalization
  • Governments
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Political Systems
  • Treaties

Readers

  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Strategic Security Studies