WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that the new missile defense system planned for Europe has the flexibility to adapt to changes in Iranian missile capabilities even if U.S. intelligence about Iran’s slower- than-expected pace turns out to be wrong.
President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap a Bush-era missile-intercept system in Europe was based largely on an intelligence assessment that Iran’s effort to build a nuclear-capable long-range missile would take three years to five years longer than originally thought, officials said earlier.
Gates, a former CIA director, said that even if Iran moves more quickly on its long-range missile program, the revised program will have the flexibility to deal more quickly and effectively with the change.
The new assessment asserts Iran is unlikely to have a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile until 2015 to 2020, a U.S. government official familiar with the report told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report remains classified.
Obama on Thursday canceled a long-planned missile shield for Eastern Europe, replacing the project with a plan the president contended would better defend against a growing threat of Iranian missiles.
