US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that the new missile defense system planned for Europe has the flexibility to adapt to changes in Iranian missile capabilities even if US intelligence about Tehran’s pace of development proves wrong.
US President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap the previous administration’s missile intercept system in Europe was based largely on a new US intelligence assessment that Iran’s effort to build a nuclear-capable, long-range missile would take three years to five years longer than originally thought, officials said earlier.
Gates, a former CIA director, said that even if Iran moves more quickly on its long-range missile program, the revised program will have the flexibility to deal more quickly and effectively with the change.
“We actually are better able to deal with a changed situation, in which the intelligence assessments are wrong, with the new architecture than we were with the old one,” Gates told reporters.
The new assessment asserts Iran is unlikely to have a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) until 2015 to 2020, a US government official familiar with the report said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report remains classified.
It is the second time in two years that US intelligence has revised downward the threat posed by Iran’s weapons programs.
Obama abruptly canceled on Thursday a long-planned missile shield for Eastern Europe, replacing the Bush-era project that was strongly opposed by Russia with a plan the president contended would defend better against a growing threat of Iranian missiles.
The US no longer will seek to erect a missile base and radar site in Poland and the Czech Republic, virtually on Russia’s doorstep. Former US president George W. Bush contended that the missile base was needed to shoot down any Iranian missile — if it ever developed one with adequate range to threaten the US or Europe. The US already has a similar missile site and radar in Alaska.
Previous intelligence assessed that Iran would have an ICBM capable of menacing Europe and the US between 2012 and 2015, another US government official said.
The assessment changed because Iran has not been conducting the kind of observable development and testing that would be expected to accompany a robust long-range missile program, the second official said.
The new assessment is contained in a classified May 2009 National Intelligence Estimate. The secret report is called Foreign Ballistic Missile Development and Threat Through 2020.
National Intelligence Estimates contain the consensus judgment of all 16 US intelligence agencies about critical national security issues.
Thomas Fingar, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, said Iran’s progress, or lack thereof, on its ballistic missile program can be observed easily.
“There’s been a lot of testing. They learned from the tests and we learned from the tests,” Fingar said.
Fingar, who spearheaded the controversial 2007 national intelligence estimate that disclosed Iran had halted its nuclear weapon design work in 2003, was not privy to the new intelligence.
But he said Iran may be working on short-range missiles because they are easier to build than large, long-range missiles, and lessons learned in their development can be applied to larger missiles.
He also said Iran may not be aggressively pursuing an ICBM because it has discerned its most likely adversaries are in the region, so shorter missiles have more immediate utility for offensive attacks or deterrence.
The new Obama plan would deploy systems designed to shoot down short and medium-range missiles, with construction in phases to begin around 2011. Systems to counter longer-range missiles would be in place around 2020.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS