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Obama's decision on missile defense sites in Europe-grave mistake

September 17, 2009
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Today's announcement by the Obama Administration that it plans to discontinue the deployment of U.S. missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic represents a stunning reversal of longstanding U.S. policy priorities and a potentially grave strategic mistake that will weaken U.S. alliances in Europe, embolden Russia and undermine U.S. national security.

Only five months have passed since President Obama stated with confidence and conviction in Prague that "Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbors and our allies. The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defense against these missiles. As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven."

Reversing course on the sites will only weaken America's already-strained relations with the Poles and Czechs. For years, these countries have served as loyal and energetic supporters of U.S. global leadership. Their diplomats have backstopped U.S. initiatives in the UN, EU and NATO; their politicians have risked isolation to defend pro-American platforms; and their soldiers have fought and died alongside American servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Few allies have been so supportive of U.S. interests; none have shown a greater faith in American ideals. Dependable friends in a changing world, our alliances with them are as much a U.S. national resource as our economy, energy reserves or public schools.

Today's move will almost certainly place a heavy strain on these partnerships. For the first time in two decades, the United States has publicly de-prioritized our linkages with the new democracies of Central Europe in favor of closer relations with Russia. This decision is unlikely to provide the administration with the Russian cooperation it seeks. Through intransigence and a good poker face, Moscow has managed to achieve its greatest diplomatic victory since the end of the Cold War; moving forward, it will only be emboldened to apply these and other aggressive techniques elsewhere.

Ultimately, a reversal of course on missile defense will not remove the heightened security dilemma in Europe's east. Denied enhanced security from the United States, Central Europeans will only look for it elsewhere - through increased defense spending at home, louder demands for back-up clauses to NATO's Article V and a stronger push to obtain Western military installations. The net effect will be more, not less, contention in NATO and a greater need for U.S. attention to what could with time become a reactivated strategic frontier in Europe's east.
This is good neither for our allies nor for the United States. Far from enhancing U.S. security and advancing our values, the Administration's use of unilateral concessions is likely to result in new sources of crisis and danger.

 

Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Washington, DC

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