It would cost NATO members less than 200 million Euros over 10 years to set up a missile defence shield capable of covering their entire territory, the Alliance Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today at his monthly press briefing at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
NATO states are currently debating whether the Alliance should take on, as part of its mission, territorial defence against missile strikes from so-called ‘rogue states’ such as Iran and North Korea. "I know that many people hear the words 'missile defence' and see a big bill. But in fact, the cost is very manageable", Rasmussen told journalists in Brussels. NATO nations are already developing an anti-missile system designed to protect soldiers on the battlefield: the Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence System (ALTBMD) capability.
"The cost of expanding that system to cover not only our soldiers, but also our populations - normal citizens in our cities ... is less than 200 million Euros, over 10 years, spread among the 28 NATO countries", Rasmussen said. And he stressed: “For that price …. how could we not agree to build defence for all our citizens against missile attacks? Why would we protect our soldiers – and we should – but not everybody else?”. When asked to clarify the scale of missile defence for that price, Rasmussen added: “You will get full coverage geographically, as well as protection against the threats we can envisage today”.
NATO's largest member, the United States, is already moving to site anti-missile systems in Central and Eastern Europe, arguing that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons to strike at US and potentially European targets.
The Secretary General has made improving relations with Russia one of his top priorities, and when questioned on Moscow’s position responded by saying that "We would very much like to explore the possibilities to cooperate, to link the systems". He added that NATO and Russian diplomats would debate the idea "in the coming months" within the NATO-Russian Council.
However, when pressed by one journalist for “releasable proof” of the threats to justify spending 200 million Euros and on the potential for cost overruns (given NATO’s patchy history in this regard with C2 software projects), the Secretary General was less forthcoming:
"We have a sufficient amount of information and intelligence to know that we are faced with a real threat, taking into consideration Iranian aspirations as regards missile technology and nuclear programmes. As far as the military feasibility is concerned, our military authorities have investigated this thoroughly and have presented report, which will be discussed among ministers so political leaders will have really solid grounds for taking political decisions. And as far as cost control is concerned, I can assure you that financial management is one of my very high priorities".
“This simply isn’t good enough”, said NATO Watch director Ian Davis. “Against the background of a challenging economic climate and hard budgetary choices, and in order to facilitate a proper discussion of the threat and the best way of meeting it, NATO ballistic missile threat assessments and industrial studies should be declassified and placed in the public domain”. He added, “And the Secretary General should also publish a detailed estimate on how he reaches a figure of 200 million Euros”.
NATO leaders are expected to finally decide at a summit in Lisbon on November 19-20 whether the Alliance as a whole should set up its own territorial missile defence system. Rasmussen stressed that he would not try and predict the decision of the November NATO summit. But he said that he believed there was an "emerging consensus that we are faced with a real threat" and that the revelation of the low cost of the project had had a "real impact" on the debate.
In a separate development, Reuters reported that Israel has held preliminary technical talks with NATO that could lay the groundwork for joint missile defences. While not a member of NATO, Israel has increased cooperation with the alliance as part of its preparations for a possible conflict with Iran.