Sec. 233. Missile defense cooperation with Russia
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Congress makes the following findings: For more than a decade, the United States and Russia have discussed a variety of options for cooperation on shared early warning and ballistic missile defense. For example, on May 1, 2001, President George W. Bush spoke of a new cooperative relationship with Russia and said it should be premised on openness, mutual confidence and real opportunities for cooperation, including the area of missile defense. It should allow us to share information so that each nation can improve its early warning capability, and its capability to defend its people and territory.
And perhaps one day, we can even cooperate in a joint defense . Section 1231 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106–398 ; 1654A–329) authorized the Department of Defense to establish in Russia a joint center for the exchange of data from systems to provide early warning of launches of ballistic missiles and for notification of launches of such missiles , also known as the Joint Data Exchange Center (JDEC).
On March 31, 2008, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England stated that we have offered Russia a wide-ranging proposal to cooperate on missile defense—everything from modeling and simulation, to data sharing, to joint development of a regional missile defense architecture—all designed to defend the United States, Europe, and Russia from the growing threat of Iranian ballistic missiles. An extraordinary series of transparency measures have also been offered to reassure Russia.
Despite some Russian reluctance to sign up to these cooperative missile defense activities, we continue to work toward this goal . The February 2010 report of the Ballistic Missile Defense Review established as one of its central policy pillars that increased international missile defense cooperation is in the national security interest of the United States and, with regard to cooperation with Russia, the United States is pursuing a broad agenda focused on shared early warning of missile launches, possible technical cooperation, and even operational cooperation .
At the November 2010 Lisbon Summit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)decided to develop a missile defense system to protect NATO European populations, territory and forces and also to seek cooperation with Russia on missile defense. In its Lisbon Summit Declaration, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reaffirmed its readiness to invite Russia to explore jointly the potential for linking current and planned missile defense systems at an appropriate time in mutually beneficial ways . The new NATO Strategic Concept adopted at the Lisbon Summit stated that we will actively seek cooperation on missile defense with Russia , that NATO-Russia cooperation is of strategic importance , and that the security of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia is intertwined . In a December 18, 2010, letter to the leadership of the Senate, President Obama wrote that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invited Russia to cooperate on missile defense, which could lead to adding Russian capabilities to those deployed by NATO to enhance our common security against common threats. The Lisbon Summit thus demonstrated that the Alliance's missile defenses can be strengthened by improving NATO-Russian relations. This comes even as we have made clear that the system we intend to pursue with Russia will not be a joint system, and it will not in any way limit United States' or NATO's missile defense capabilities. Effective cooperation with Russia could enhance the overall efficiency of our combined territorial missile defenses, and at the same time provide Russia with greater security . Section 221(a)(3) of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 ( Public Law 111–383 ; 124 Stat. 4167) states that it is the sense of Congress to support the efforts of the United States Government and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to pursue cooperation with the Russian Federation on ballistic missile defense relative to Iranian missile threats . In a speech in Russia on March 21, 2011, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cited the NATO-Russian decision to cooperate on defense against ballistic missiles. We've disagreed before, and Russia still has uncertainties about the European Phased Adaptive Approach, a limited system that poses no challenges to the large Russian nuclear arsenal. However, we've mutually committed to resolving these difficulties in order to develop a roadmap toward truly effective anti-ballistic missile collaboration. This collaboration may include exchanging launch information, setting up a joint data fusion center, allowing greater transparency with respect to our missile defense plans and exercises, and conducting a joint analysis to determine areas of future cooperation . In testimony to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on April 13, 2011, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Bradley H. Roberts stated that the United States has been pursuing a Defense Technology Cooperation Agreement with Russia since 2004, and that such an agreement is necessary for the safeguarding of sensitive information in support of cooperation on missile defense, and to provide the legal framework for undertaking cooperative efforts . In a March 2012 answer to a question from the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on missile defense cooperation with Russia, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Jim Miller wrote that I support U.S.-Russian cooperation on missile defenses first and foremost because it could improve the effectiveness of U.S. and NATO missile defenses, thereby improving the protection of the United States, our forces overseas, and our Allies. Missile defense cooperation with Russia is in the security interests of the United States, NATO, and Russia, first and foremost because it could strengthen capabilities across Europe to intercept Iranian missiles . He also wrote that [t]he United States has pursued missile defense cooperation with Russia with the clear understanding that we would not accept constraints on missile defense, and that we would undertake necessary qualitative and quantitative improvements to meet U.S. Security needs . In February 2012, an international group of independent experts known as the Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative issued a report proposing missile defense cooperation between the United States (with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies) and Russia. The group, whose leaders included Stephen Hadley, the National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, proposed that the nations share satellite and radar early warning data at joint cooperation centers in order to improve their ability to detect, track, and defeat medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles from the Middle East. In a letter dated April 13, 2012, Robert Nabors, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, wrote that it is Administration policy that we will only provide information to Russia that will enhance the effectiveness of our missile defenses. The Administration will not provide Russia with sensitive information that would in any way compromise our national security, including hit-to-kill technology and interceptor telemetry . The May 20, 2012, NATO Chicago Summit Declaration included the following statement: Given our shared security interests with Russia, we remain committed to cooperation on missile defense in the spirit of mutual trust and reciprocity, such as the recent [NATO-Russia Council] Theatre Missile Defense Exercise. Through ongoing efforts in the NATO-Russia Council, we seek to determine how independent NATO and Russian missile defense systems can work together to enhance European security. We look forward to establishing the proposed joint NATO-Russia Missile Data Fusion Centre and the joint Planning Operations Centre to cooperate on missile defense. We propose to develop a transparency regime based upon a regular exchange of information about the current respective missile defense capabilities of NATO and Russia . The United States currently has agreements and programs of cooperation on shared early warning with eight nations in addition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The United States has developed procedures and mechanisms for sharing early warning information with partner nations while ensuring the protection of sensitive United States information. Russia and the United States each have ballistic missile launch early warning and detection and tracking sensors that could contribute to and enhance each others' ability to detect, track, and defend against ballistic missile threats from Iran. The Obama Administration has provided regular briefings to Congress on its discussions with Russia on possible missile defense cooperation. It is the sense of Congress that— it is in the national security interest of the United States to pursue efforts at missile defense cooperation with Russia that would enhance the security of the United States, its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, and Russia, particularly against missile threats from Iran; the United States should pursue ballistic missile defense cooperation with Russia on both a bilateral basis and a multilateral basis with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, particularly through the NATO-Russia Council, when it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so; missile defense cooperation with Russia should not in any way limit United States' or NATO's missile defense capabilities , as acknowledged in the December 18, 2010, letter from President Obama to the leadership of the Senate, and should be mutually beneficial and reciprocal in nature; the United States should not provide Russia with sensitive missile defense information that would in any way compromise United States national security, including hit-to-kill technology and interceptor telemetry; the United States should pursue missile defense cooperation with Russia in a manner that ensures that— United States classified information is appropriately safeguarded and protected from unauthorized disclosure; prior to entering into missile defense technology cooperation projects, the United States enters into a Defense Technology Cooperation Agreement with Russia that establishes the legal framework for a broad spectrum of potential cooperative defense projects; and such cooperation does not limit the missile defense capabilities of the United States or its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies; and the sovereignty of the United States and its ability to unilaterally pursue its own missile defense program shall be protected. No funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2014 for the Department of Defense may be used to provide the Russian Federation with sensitive missile defense information that would in any way compromise United States national security, including hit-to-kill technology and telemetry data for missile defense interceptors or target vehicles.
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- Pub. L. 106-398
- Pub. L. 111-383
- 124 Stat. 4167
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Sec. 233
Missile defense cooperation with Russia
Pub. L.Pub. L. 106-398
Pub. L.Pub. L. 111-383
Stat.124 Stat. 4167
Cites 3Cited by 0 across 0 sources