Frist urges European missile defense site

Frist: Europe Missile-Defense Site Needed

Friday, June 30, 2006
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urged President Bush on Friday to intensify efforts to put interceptor missiles at a site in Europe to protect against potential attacks from Iran.

"The threat from Iran is only going to grow in the years ahead. We need to take steps now to prepare to deal with that threat," Frist, R-Tenn., said in a letter to the president.

"The time has come to revive and reinvigorate discussions with allies in Europe that have previously expressed interest in hosting these interceptors at a third site on their territory," said Frist, who is retiring from the Senate and is considering running for president in 2008.

The United States has interceptor missiles buried in California and Alaska to counter potential threats from the Pacific, including from North Korea. The Bush administration has spent more than a year negotiating with several European allies to find a third site for the ground-based interceptor missiles, including discussions last year with Poland.

For the budget year that begins Oct. 1, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency requested $61 million to produce 10 more interceptor missiles and $56 million to prepare for a third site. There has been no final decision on where that site may be, said Rick Lehner, an agency spokesman.

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