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 Home > News & Policies > December 2001

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 13, 2001

President Discusses National Missile Defense

     Play Video View the President's Remarks
     Fact sheet ABM Treaty Fact Sheet
     Fact sheet U.S. Response to Russian Statement on ABM Treaty

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE

The Rose Garden

9:58 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  I've just concluded a meeting of my National Security Council.  We reviewed what I discussed with my friend, President Vladimir Putin, over the course of many meetings, many months.  And that is the need for America to move beyond the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile treaty.

Today, I have given formal notice to Russia, in accordance with the treaty, that the United States of America is withdrawing from this almost 30 year old treaty.  I have concluded the ABM treaty hinders our government's ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist or rogue state missile attacks.

"Today, I have given formal notice to Russia, in accordance with the treaty, that the United States of America is withdrawing from this almost 30 year old treaty," said President George W. Bush announcing the withdrawal from the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile treaty in the Rose Garden Dec. 13. Standing with the President are the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs Richard B. Myers (far left), Secretary of State Colin Powell (left), and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. White House photo by Eric Draper. The 1972 ABM treaty was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union at a much different time, in a vastly different world.  One of the signatories, the Soviet Union, no longer exists.  And neither does the hostility that once led both our countries to keep thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert, pointed at each other.  The grim theory was that neither side would launch a nuclear attack because it knew the other would respond, thereby destroying both.

Today, as the events of September the 11th made all too clear, the greatest threats to both our countries come not from each other, or other big powers in the world, but from terrorists who strike without warning, or rogue states who seek weapons of mass destruction.

We know that the terrorists, and some of those who support them, seek the ability to deliver death and destruction to our doorstep via missile.  And we must have the freedom and the flexibility to develop effective defenses against those attacks.  Defending the American people is my highest priority as Commander in Chief, and I cannot and will not allow the United States to remain in a treaty that prevents us from developing effective defenses.

At the same time, the United States and Russia have developed a new, much more hopeful and constructive relationship.  We are moving to replace mutually assured destruction with mutual cooperation.  Beginning in Ljubljana, and continuing in meetings in Genoa, Shanghai, Washington and Crawford, President Putin and I developed common ground for a new strategic relationship.  Russia is in the midst of a transition to free markets and democracy.  We are committed to forging strong economic ties between Russia and the United States, and new bonds between Russia and our partners in NATO.  NATO has made clear its desire to identify and pursue opportunities for joint action at 20.

I look forward to visiting Moscow, to continue our discussions, as we seek a formal way to express a new strategic relationship that will last long beyond our individual administrations, providing a foundation for peace for the years to come.

We're already working closely together as the world rallies in the war against terrorism.  I appreciate so much President Putin's important advice and cooperation as we fight to dismantle the al Qaeda network in Afghanistan.  I appreciate his commitment to reduce Russia's offensive nuclear weapons.  I reiterate our pledge to reduce our own nuclear arsenal between 1,700 and 2,200 operationally deployed strategic nuclear weapons.  President Putin and I have also agreed that my decision to withdraw from the treaty will not, in any way, undermine our new relationship or Russian security.

As President Putin said in Crawford, we are on the path to a fundamentally different relationship.  The Cold War is long gone.  Today we leave behind one of its last vestiges.

But this is not a day for looking back.  This is a day for looking forward with hope, and anticipation of greater prosperity and peace for Russians, for Americans and for the entire world.

Thank you.

END                     10:03 A.M. EST