From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  Poland, Romania and Turkey have already agreed to host key elements of this system.  And my goal for Chicago is that we declare an interim operational capability for NATO’s territorial missile defence.   We will then be able to receive early warning of missile launches directed against us.  A big step towards the full capability that we need.

That’s the NATO track. But I would also like to make progress on the NATO-Russia track. Cooperation on missile defence makes sense militarily — because it renders both our systems more effective. And it makes sense politically — because it demonstrates that our missile defence is not directed against Russia.

Excerpt from speech, “Towards NATO’s Chicago Summit,” by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the European Policy Centre, Brussels. 

From Xinhua:  The NATO chief reiterated that NATO would seek cooperation with Russia to build "two different missile defense systems with the same purpose."

"Cooperation on missile defense makes sense militarily, because it renders both our systems more effective. And it makes sense politically, because it demonstrates that our missile defense is not directed against Russia," he said.  (photo: NATO)

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