Budget includes missile defense

$9 billion would help establish system by end of this year

? The Bush administration is seeking a big increase in spending for missile defense next year, setting the program on course to have a bare-bones system in place by the end of this year and up to 30 interceptors on land and at sea by the end of 2005.

Overall, the military plans to spend less next year to buy new weapons systems, more on personnel and more to maintain and upgrade helicopters, tanks and airplanes worn down by duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The total procurement budget request is $74.9 billion, compared with $81.1 billion for 2004, according to Pentagon documents that were released by mistake Friday.

The request for the Missile Defense Agency is $9.14 billion, according to a copy of the budget that President Bush plans to send to Congress on Monday. That would be nearly 20 percent above last year’s $7.6 billion for the agency.

The proposed spending is aimed at having 20 ground-based missile interceptors and up to 10 sea-based interceptors by the end of the 2005, as well as upgraded radars and command and control, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The administration contends the United States needs to develop missile defenses to guard against rogue nations such as North Korea that could fire missiles loaded with nuclear, chemical or biological warheads. Critics say the missile defense plan is too costly and relies on unproven technology.

The Bush administration missile defense plan is a greatly downscaled version of the plan President Reagan offered in the mid-1980s, popularly known as “Star Wars,” which was designed to defend against missiles from the now-defunct Soviet Union.

The missile defense money is part of a total Defense Department budget request of $401.7 billion for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

The total military budget — 7 percent more than last year’s $375.3 billion — does not include money for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The department received an $87 billion supplemental appropriation for those operations last fall and is expected to ask for another multibillion-dollar supplement after the fall election.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier this month that the budget reflected Bush’s commitment to prosecuting a global war on terrorism. Rumsfeld said priorities included investment in quality-of-life programs for troops, improved intelligence and spending to ensure the combat readiness of U.S. troops.

Documents obtained by The AP on Friday indicate that budget planners focused on transforming the military, improving intelligence capabilities and further streamlining Pentagon management.

Other details of the budget, normally closely held until the president sends his request to Capitol Hill, were learned when someone in the Pentagon inadvertently posted them on the Internet. They were later withdrawn.

According to the documents mistakenly posted on the Pentagon Web site, the budget request for buying aircraft will decline from $2.1 billion to $1.8 billion.

The Pentagon request is part of an overall $2.3 trillion budget that Bush will propose.