BASIC PRESS RELEASE
19 June 2006 - for immediate use
New US strategy in danger of reviving old dangers
The British American Security Information Council has today published
a new report, US 'Prompt Global Strike'
Capability: A New Destabilising Sub-State Deterrent in the Making?
warning of the possible dangers ahead if a new US strategy is permitted
to go ahead.
"The 'Prompt Global Strike' (PGS) concept is an entirely predictable
extension of current US 'pre-emptive' strategic thinking. Indeed,
its conceptual development from a purely strategic to a viable tactical
weapon mirrors the subtle way the Bush doctrine of 'pre-emption'
has increasingly become one of 'prevention'", says BASIC Director
and co-author, Dr Ian Davis.
The Pentagon is seeking to field a fully operational PGS capability
by 2020. It is premised on the Pentagon's perception of the need
for the United States to be able to convey a "new kind of deterrence"
in order to meet contemporary security challenges, such as terrorists
armed with nuclear weapons.
The PGS concept, introduced in the Defense Department's 2001
Nuclear Posture Review and further refined in the 2006 Quadrennial
Defense Review, is a $500 million project that would see up
to 100 of the US Navy's 300 Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs)
re-armed with conventional warheads. These weapons would give the
US administration the ability to attack targets thousands of miles
away with precision-guided, conventional high explosives within
60 minutes of a Presidential order to strike.
In the short term, an interim project would see 24 of the US Navy's
Trident II missiles modified to carry non-nuclear, conventional
warheads. Each missile would be able to carry four conventional
warheads and initially two would be deployed per submarine. This
would 'satisfy the immediate desire of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM)
for a near-term strike option'.
BASIC recommends that Congress eliminate the $127 million earmarked
in the fiscal year 2007 budget for PGS and that NATO allies voice
opposition to it, both in public and in private discussions with
US officials.
"If implemented, PGS will provide the United States with the
capability to strike virtually anywhere on the face of the earth
within 60 minutes," says Dr Davis, and may result in serious global
security implications, including high risk of mistaken nuclear first
strike and a new arms race in ballistic missiles."
The report is available at: http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Papers/BP51.htm
or as a pdf file at: http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Papers/BP51.pdf
For further comment or interviews please contact:
Dr Ian Davis +44 (0)207 324 4685; mobile: 07887 782 389
Or
Nigel Chamberlain +44 (0)1768 898641
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