Thad Cochran

UNITED STATES SENATOR - MISSISSIPPI

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 1997

CONTACT: Beth Day
(202) 224-6404

Washington, D.C. - Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) will chair a hearing on "National Missile Defense and Prospects for U.S.-Russia ABM Treaty Accommodation" Thursday, March 13, before the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. in room 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

At the Subcommittee's first hearing on nuclear deterrence last month, questions were raised concerning U.S. deployment of a national ballistic missile defense system and Russian ratification of the START II Treaty.

This hearing will address these concerns by examining a recently published study sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace entitled, "Cold Peace" or Cooperation: The Potential for U.S.-Russian Accommodation on Missile Defense and the ABM Treaty.

"The United States must take Russian concerns into account before deploying a national missile defense system, though we cannot make our security dependent upon Russian willingness to cooperate. This study concludes that the deployment of a national missile defense by the United States and reductions to strategic offensive weapons in both the United States and Russia need not be mutually exclusive," said Cochran.

The following witnesses will testify before the Subcommittee: Ambassador Max Kampelman, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Institute of Peace; Dr. Keith Payne, President of the National Institute for Public Policy; and Dr. Andrei Kortunov, President of the Moscow Public Science Foundation.