Missile Defense Work Can Begin

By ROBERT BURNS

(AP Military Writer)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Administration lawyers have concluded that the Pentagon can break ground in Alaska on a powerful radar for a missile defense system without violating an arms control treaty that prohibits national missile defenses, officials said Thursday. The radar, which would be built on the remote island of Shemya if President Clinton gives the go-ahead, is a critical link in a proposed missile defense system designed to protect all 50 U.S. states against attack by a small number of ballistic missiles.

The administration is aiming to complete the project by 2005. The question of violating the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty is important because the administration has said it wants to preserve the treaty by adopting amendments permitting a limited missile defense. Russia, however, is resisting and is likely to assert that any construction work amounts to a treaty violation.

The New York Times reported Thursday that administration lawyers have set out three legal interpretations of how far the Pentagon could go on the Alaska construction without violating the treaty. Administration officials who confirmed the Times report on condition they not be identified said the first interpretation would allow contractors to pour a concrete pad for the radar on Shemya without violating the treaty. Other, less restrictive interpretations are that even more construction could be done.

Clinton has not decided which, if any, of the legal interpretations to accept, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. Although the administration lawyers have offered their advice on initial work that could be done within the legal bounds of the ABM treaty, White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said they have not determined the exact point in the construction process at which the United States would be in violation. ``It remains our goal first and foremost to try to develop a (missile defense) capability within the bounds of the ABM treaty,'' Crowley said. Bacon said he could not discuss specifics of the administration's legal interpretations.

``I can tell you that lawyers have analyzed deployment timetables and they have analyzed the construction requirements for the radar in the Aleutians on Shemya Island,'' Bacon said. ``They have come up with a number of options, and the president, at the appropriate time, will review their legal analysis and their options and make a decision.''

The radar would help point U.S. missile interceptors _ likely to be based near Fairbanks, Alaska _ in the right direction as they race toward space to collide with the warhead of an incoming ballistic missile. The Pentagon has estimated that construction on the radar must begin next spring if the 2005 deadline for completing the project is to be met. If Clinton were to decide that he wanted to keep that target deadline _ but were operating under an assumption that construction could not begin without violating the treaty _ then he would have to decide on abrogating the ABM treaty before he leaves office. That is because the ABM treaty requires a six-month advance notification before withdrawing.

Defense Secretary William Cohen has said he intends to make his recommendation to Clinton in August whether to proceed with the initial construction work.