"The Administration and Congress share a commitment to develop an effective national missile defense system to protect the United States against a limited attack from a rogue state. The Department of Defense is currently working on a program that would enable the United States to deploy a limited national missile defense program in 2003, if necessary. This is a technologically challenging program, which we are pursuing as quickly as possible. We assess the program on a regular basis and believe that funding is adequate and appropriate.

"We continue to maintain the world's most capable nuclear and conventional forces to deter aggression against the United States and its allies. No one should doubt our ability and determination to respond with decisive force to a missile attack."