    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
    [Page 457]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on National Missile Defense Legislation

    March 17, 1999

        I am pleased that the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, included in its
    national missile defense (NMD) legislation two amendments that
    significantly change the original bill, which I strongly opposed. By
    specifying that any NMD deployment must be subject to the authorization
    and appropriations process, the legislation now makes clear that no
    decision on deployment has been made. By putting the Senate on record as
    continuing to support negotiated reductions in strategic nuclear arms,
    the bill reaffirms that our missile defense policy must take into
    account our arms control objectives.
        We are committed to meeting the growing danger that outlaw nations
    will develop and deploy long-range missiles that could deliver weapons
    of mass destruction against us and our allies. Next year we will, for
    the first time, determine whether to deploy a limited national missile
    defense against these threats, when we review the results of flight
    tests and other developmental efforts, consider cost estimates, and
    evaluate the threat. In making our determination, we will also review
    progress in achieving our arms control objectives, including negotiating
    any amendments to the ABM Treaty that may be required to accommodate a
    possible NMD deployment.
        This week the Russian Duma took an encouraging step toward obtaining
    final approval of START II. We want to move ahead on the START III
    framework, which I negotiated with President Yeltsin in 1997, to cut
    Russian and U.S. arsenals 80 percent from cold war levels, while
    maintaining the ABM Treaty as a cornerstone of strategic stability. The
    changes made in the NMD bill during Senate debate ensure these crucial
    objectives will be fully taken into account as we pursue our NMD
    program.