Briefer: Dana Perino

President’s Schedule

President Bush had his normal briefings at 8 am. At 1.30 pm he will make remarks in honor of Columbian Independence Day in the East Room of the White House. The President will highlight the need for Congress to pass the US-Columbian Free Trade Agreement. Secretaries Gutierrez and Schafer, members of Congress, and members of the diplomatic corps, will be in attendance along with another 220 guests. At 2.20 pm, the President will depart the White House en route to a Goddard-Georgia victory committee reception. He will return to the Washington later this evening.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino will brief the press at 12.30 pm today. (more…)

General Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, discusses legacy satellites and the future of satellite defense at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the missile defense budget. (0:30)

 

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Speaking at the American Foreign Policy Council’s conference on missile defense Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) says that there is a potential for the next commander-in-chief to be someone who has cut spending on missile defense. (0:22)

 

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James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA, under Bill Clinton, speaking at the American Foreign Policy Council’s conference on missile defense said that the wost scenario, in the event of Iran’s developing nuclear weapons, would not be to use force, but would be to let Iran have a nuclear weapon. (0:26)

 

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The American Foreign Policy Council hosted their second annual conference on missile defense.

The biggest themes from both Jim Woolsey, CIA director under Clinton and Sen. Jon Kyl were that we are moving away from a cold war way of thinking and a focus on negotiating with Russia and focusing on new threats from Iran, China, and North Korea.

Woolsey focused on the ideology that controls Iran and that it should be taken as seriously as Hitler. He advocated even stronger sanctions against Iran for example, cutting off their refined petroleum product such as diesel. He said that the United States should increase their outreach to citizen’s in Iran who are displeased with the Amadinejad regime via broadcasting mediums like VOA. He said that caveats the National Intelligence Estimate in December had been ignored and those indicated that Iran continues to March toward developing nuclear weapons. Woolsey said if Iran continues to advance in it’s nuclear development the only thing worse than the use of force would be to let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

Kyl went a bit more into Russian and Chinese threats and how a missile that travels through space to reach it’s target is a “space weapon.” He defended the recent shoot down of the broken US satellite as a good sign for US missile defense. Kyle was much more political saying that the Democrats have been failing in appropriate funding for missile defense. Sen. Kyl said that only John McCain would return solid funding to missile defense. He criticized a “mindset on Capitol Hill that we should be spending as much on the Peace Corps as missile defense.” He called for studies on space based missile defense and full funding for missile defense. He said he feared that a new administration with the same person said we should eliminate money from the missile defense program.

Briefer: Dana Perino

President’s Schedule
President Bush had his normal briefings this morning. At 9:55 am, he will meet with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic in the Oval Office of the White House. The two leaders are expected to discuss cooperation on missile defense and the visa waiver program. President Bush will also thank the Prime Minister and the people of the Czech Republic for their commitment in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
This afternoon at 2.10 pm, the President will meet the Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. At 3.05 pm, President Bush participates in a photo opportunity and makes remarks to the Boston Red Sox.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino will brief the press at 12.30 pm today. (more…)

Sec. Gates says that a U.S. military mission to shoot down a broken satellite with a tactical missile has drawn attention and understanding to the missile defense program. (0:36)

 

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Sec. Gates says that the Pentagon shared information and gave prior notice before shooting down a defunct U.S. satellite with a modified surface-to-air missile from the U.S. missile defense arsenal. He says that the U.S. will share missile defense information with other countries when appropriate. (0:28)

 

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Sec. Gates speaks about how U.S. missile defense systems have been proven and that the Defense Department budget supports improving capability. (0:37)

 

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Gen. Cartwright repeated the Defense Department’s previous statement that the shot from the USS Lake Erie was a direct hit, though he said there is no “smoking gun” as to whether the fuel tank had been hit. The video of the impact showed some indications, he said, that the tank was breached such as a fireball and a vapor cloud. But Cartwright said that they are still compiling all the radar evidence and at at this time the military is about 90 percent sure that the tank was breached.

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