Ramification of Failure of Latest Missile Defense System Test
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: The latest test for a proposed U.S. missile defense system was apparently a total failure. CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace reports on the test and its ramification for the Oval Office.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This interceptor failed to hit its intended target, a $100 million failure that produced little useful information for President Clinton, who must decide by the end of the year whether to push for the deployment of a $30 billion limited missile defense system.</s>JACQUES GANSLER, UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The question of whether it's absolute need or not is the one that the secretary and the president will be deciding on.</s>WALLACE: A senior administration official says it is too early to say what impact the test, the second failure in three tries, will have on the president's decision. But critics say, the system does not work.</s>JOHN ISAACS, COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD: The test failure last night showed that the missile defense program was not ready for primetime.</s>WALLACE: Mr. Clinton must also consider objections from China, European allies and Russia. At the recent Moscow summit, Russia's President Vladimir Putin told Mr. Clinton that he would not amends the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty, which prohibits building a missile defense system. Some nuclear experts point to Russia's opposition and the possibility of the historic summit between the Koreas, leading to reduced tension with North Korea, as reasons the president should delay a decision. Intelligence assessments claim North Korea could field a long- range missile capable of hitting the United States by 2005.</s>MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: All of those things together give Clinton some reason to say, hey, let's just slow down and let my successors handle this will problem more patiently and correctly.</s>WALLACE: Texas Governor George W. Bush supports a more advanced missile defense system, to protect not only the U.S., but its allies. Vice President Al Gore sides with the administration's pursuit on limited approach. Mr. Clinton is now waited for the formal recommendation from Defense Secretary William Cohen, expected in the next several weeks. (on camera): A senior administration official says the president is not leaning one way or the other, that he is waiting to get all of the facts before making his decision. His decision is expected to come sometime this fall, most likely before the November election. Kelly Wallace, CNN, the White House.