ACTION REQUEST: MISSILE DEFENSE, NATO AND RUSSIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000262

SIPDIS

OSD PASS MDA FOR GENERAL O'REILLY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2019
TAGS: MARR NATO PARM PREL RS
SUBJECT: ACTION REQUEST: MISSILE DEFENSE, NATO AND RUSSIA

REF: MOSCOW 1491

Classified By: Ambassador Ivo H. Daalder for reasons 1.4(B)&(D).


1. (C) This is an action request - see para 6.


2. (C) Summary: As Washington considers missile defense
options, discussions are underway within NATO on the form
Alliance missile defense will assume. We believe it
politically vital to involve Allies in the process of
thinking through MD options before final USG decisions are
reached. The notion of reftel that the U.S. and Russia
should decide whether and when to engage NATO has it the
wrong way around. We need to raise these issues soonest with
Allies, and thereafter with the Russians, preferably within
the framework of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC). End Summary.


3. (C) NATO leaders agreed in April at Strasbourg to present
recommendations comprising architecture alternatives for
territorial missile defense for consideration at the 2010
summit in Lisbon. Additionally, they will analyze the
possible expansion of the role of the NATO Active Layered
Theatre Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) program beyond the
protection of deployed forces to include the defense of
European Allied territory. (Note: NATO uses the term
"Theatre" for its previously approved "out of area" MD
program.) Since the U.S. announcement that we are reviewing
our national missile defense program, discussions at NATO
have slowed while nations await the U.S. results.


4. (C) Before this process gets too much further down the
road to Lisbon, Mission believes that high-level
consultations with NATO ahead of the U.S.-Russia summit are
an appropriate first step. Especially since all the
architecture options now on the table for NATO missile
defense involve the so-called "3rd site," sending a senior
level representative from Washington to consult with Allies
in advance of any final USG decision will be vital to
achieving consensus at NATO and maintaining political
cohesion on MD.


5. (C) Once the USG review of missile defense policy is
complete, Mission believes it should be thoroughly discussed
at NATO. Again, keeping Allies in the loop will help assuage
fears that MD is something that the U.S. and Russia plan to
work on bilaterally, to the exclusion of NATO. After the
Alliance has determined the direction it will take on missile
defense, the appropriate next step would be to approach
Russia through the NRC and discuss missile defense
cooperation "at 29."


6. (C) Action Request: Mission requests Washington send
appropriate senior level officials to consult with NATO
PermReps about missile defense prior to the U.S.-Russia
Summit.
DAALDER