Letter: Missile system inviting trouble

Wednesday, May 9, 2001 | 9:17 a.m.

President Bush's national missile defense scheme is wrong. Three reasons:

First, his multilayered system could cost taxpayers between $120 billion and $240 billion over the next 20 years. This is too expensive.

Second, it won't work. Even Clinton's simple land-based national missile defense program failed two out of three tests.

Finally, national missile defense will make us less, rather than more, secure because it will destroy existing treaties like the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. It will cause Russia to feel more vulnerable and thus more dependent on its nuclear arsenal. It will incite China to go from 20 long-range nuclear missiles to 200, which will trigger India and Pakistan to beef up their arsenals. In short, the president's plan is a foolish, expensive recipe for disaster.

ABBY JOHSON, Carson City

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