FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 January 2002 INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY RELEASES UNCLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF NEW NIE ON BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT An unclassified summary of the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on the ballistic missile threat, Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States Through 2015, was released publicly today and is available on the National Intelligence Council (NIC) page of CIA’s public web site (www.cia.gov). At the request of Congress, the Intelligence Community has been producing annual reports on ballistic missile developments since 1998.  The last unclassified summary was released in September 1999 and also is available on the NIC page of the Agency’s web site. While there are no major changes in ballistic missile projections from the unclassified summary released in 1999, the threat posed by ballistic missiles remains and continues to grow. The NIE describes new missile developments and our projections of possible and likely ballistic missile threats to the United States, US interests overseas, and military forces or allies through 2015; updates assessments of theater ballistic missile forces worldwide; discusses the evolving proliferation environment; and provides a summary of forward-based threats and cruise missiles. The estimate examines future ballistic missile capabilities of several countries that have ballistic missiles and ballistic missile development programs.  Each country section includes a discussion of theater-range systems and current and projected long-range systems. #