"If deployed the US National Missile Defence (NMD) system will result in a net decrease in US security." Such is the major conclusion of a report released today by LAWS (Lawyers Alliance for World Security) and presented by Jack Mendelsohn, one of the authors, at a meeting of NATO Parliamentarians in Portoroz (Slovenia).

LAWS, a group of former government officials and arms control specialists, argues that NMD will "interfere with international efforts to stem proliferation, destabilize relations with China and Russia", in addition to splitting the NATO Alliance.

NMD, basically, is an inappropriate and prohibitively expensive response to a threat whose seriousness still has to be proven. Clinton Administration¹s pledges that they will seek renegotiations of the ABM Treaty, the pillar of the strategic relationship between the US and Russia for 30 years, to put NMD in agreement with their international obligations, will remain elusive, the report says. In trying to make itself more secure through unilateral means such as NMD, the US is endangering delicate international proliferation regimes and driving away potential partners from cooperating with the US in combatting worldwide proliferation threats.

"Peace, security and stability cannot be successfully pursued by one state alone. For better or for worse, security is a multinational affair ­ even for the US." Such was the strong plea delivered by Dr. Mendelsohn to the NATO 46th Rose-Roth seminar in Portoroz. Dr. Mendelsohn strongly urged the European members of Parliament gathered on 4-6 May to "keep up the drumbeat as regards their concerns with a decision which is, at the very least, premature". But he also warned them that they will have to face a "difficult US partner" in the years to come.

The report is available from the NATO PA International Secretariat.

Rose-Roth seminars (named after the two members of the US Congress who initially sponsored the initiative) bring together 80 to 100 participants, half of whom are members of parliament from NATO and PfP countries from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and the other half of whom are representatives of governments, the host country, NATO, international organisations, universities and think tanks.

Background: The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, founded in 1955 with a Brussels-based secretariat, brings together 214 national parliamentarians from the 19 NATO countries. The 16 Associate delegations from Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia, take part in nearly all Assembly activities and meetings.