Missile Defence, Deterrence and Arms Control - UNIDIR

PREFACE
At the end of February 2001 the United Nations Institute for
Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and Wilton Park held a meeting to
discuss the issues of missile defence, deterrence and arms control at the
Wilton Park Conference Centre in the United Kingdom. Forty-six
governmental and non-governmental experts from seventeen countries,
including officials from international organizations, participated in the
meeting.
This was sponsored through generous contributions from the
Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Government of France, the
Government of Italy and the Cooperative Monitoring Centre at Sandia
National Laboratory, United States.
The meeting was structured into eight sessions looking at political,
technical, national and regional perspectives on missile defences.
Specific attention was paid to the implications of the latter for arms
control and international security. A wide range of views was presented
and this report attempts to outline the breadth of discussion and
highlight the main points and proposals arising from the discussion. The
meeting took place under “Chatham House Rules” (i.e. off the record);
as such, none of the views expressed herein are attributed to any one
participant or organization.
Given the events that followed the meeting in 2001: the attacks on
the United States on 11 September; the military action in Afghanistan;
the United States announcement of withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic
Missile (ABM) Treaty; and the collapse of the Review Conference for the
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), UNIDIR and Wilton
Park are anxious that the debate on missile defence, deterrence and
arms control should continue in the public domain. This report is an
attempt to reflect the discussion that took place during the meeting and
may be cited and used in reference.
We are very grateful to our sponsors for this meeting and to all the
experts who participated in it. Heather Ingrey of Wilton Park deserves a
special mention for the superb organization of the meeting. Our thanks
v