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Fox TV News Interview on U.S. Defense Policies |
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(Source : US State Department ; issued Feb. 12, 2001)
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 U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says the United States faces today a broader range of threats and therefore deterrence is an essential part of defense policy.
Interviewed February 11 on Fox television news, Rumsfeld said the goal of deterrence policies is to be so capable of winning a war that you don't have to fight it -- that you dissuade and deter people from engaging in mischief that they otherwise might do."
He said a proposed Missile Defense system is reasonable. "And what we know is that with the end of the Cold War, proliferation has spread these technologies and weapons of mass destruction around the globe. Any president, looking at his responsibility as commander-in-chief, would have to say that a policy that is designed to keep the American people totally vulnerable does not make much sense."
Rumsfeld also addressed issues concerning the collision of a U.S. submarine with a Japanese fishing trawler, defense expenditures, the threat of terrorism to national security, the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, USS Cole bombing investigation, and weapons proliferation in Iraq.
Click here for transcript of the interview on the State Dept. website. Â
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