International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation

Beyond Missile Defense

by Andrew Lichterman, Zia Mian, M.V. Ramana and Jürgen Scheffran

An asymmetric arms race has developed with, on the one hand, the United States' pursuit of more accurate conventional weapons, a space-based military capability, national and several theater missile defense systems, and, on the other, the acquisition of ballistic missiles and increased emphasis on nuclear weapons by a number of other states. After a short description of the complex dynamics of this arms race, the joint working paper of Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) and INESAP describes the current state of international missile control, in particular focusing on the lacunae in the regime and the weaknesses in some of the proposals to go beyond. Finally, the article argues for a comprehensive approach to deal with missiles and outlines a "framework" agreement to restrict the development, testing and deployment of all ballistic missiles and missile defenses.

For the full paper, see www.wslfweb.org/docs/missilecontrol.pdf.