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US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried on Missile Defence, January 23, 2007

Missile Defense Systems Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Interview with Marcin Wrona of Polish TVN Washington, DC January 23, 2007.

Assistant Secretary Fried: We have decided to go to the next stage of the negotiations with the Poles and the Czechs about these systems; but let me make clear, the United States can't decide anything. All we can do is decide to open discussions with our Polish and Czech allies. It will be Poland and it will be the Czech Republic that make all the decisions about whether there is to be this kind of cooperation, and you'll be making decisions as to what form it will take. We'll be doing it together, but we don't decide, Poland decides.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, have the talks already started in this new phase of discussions?

Assistant Secretary Fried: We've had discussions in an earlier phase for some time, but no, we haven't yet had these new - the new level of technical talks. We will, over the coming weeks.

TVN: What is the timetable here?

Assistant Secretary Fried: Oh, that's going to depend partly on Poland, of course. I think in the next few weeks, but that's really a question for my Defense Department colleagues. And again, these - Poland has a lot of very legitimate questions to ask: legal questions, financial questions, defense questions. Defense Minister Sikorski has asked some very good questions, and those questions deserve answers. So I expect a very intense and actually quite collaborative period of discussions.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, Minister Sikorski, when he was here in Washington last year, made it clear that in return for hosting the missile defense system, he would like to have the patriot missile defense to strengthen our security and also direct American involvement in modernizing of our army. Will you say yes for that?

Assistant Secretary Fried: Well, Minister Sikorski has asked some very good questions. Some of those questions are something like, "How will our national defense be strengthened by this? What's the nature of the threat? What could be the increased threat?" Those are very legitimate questions. Our military should sit down and decide what the threat is, what the best way is to counter it, what makes sense. And I expect we will have these discussions, with respect to modernizing the Polish military. Look, the Polish military is a serious, skilled outfit. These are serious people, they know what they are doing. I've long been a proponent of doing as much cooperation as we can. I wish we could do more. We'll discuss what's possible. But in the end, this system, if is it to come about, has to increase all of Europe's security. The point is that there is no druga strefa bezpieczenstwo [second (other) zone of security]. There has to be one, undivided security sphere for all of us. And that's hopefully what this project will lead to.

TVN: There was a very nervous reaction from Moscow during the past days and there were even some threats made by the Russian government. What is your reaction to that? Because it looks like we will have more problems with it in the future.

Assistant Secretary Fried: I've learned in my years working with Poles that one thing you never do is make a threat against Poland; it just doesn't really work. The fact is, though, that this system is not directed against Russia. We have been very clear from the beginning that the Russian strategic system is so big that we really didn't have a great way to counter it, and the Russians know this. There are other, more plausible threats that the system would be effective in countering; common threats, threats we all know about that I needn't repeat here. And I think the Russians know very well that this is not a threat against them, it doesn't - it's not intended to counter their system. It will strengthen Polish security and I think that the Russians, on some level, understand this.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, Poland is present in Afghanistan, we are your big ally in Iraq, we will probably have this missile defense system on our soil, and we still have to undergo this humiliating process of applying for U.S. visas. Will this ever end?

Assistant Secretary Fried: Well, we have listened. We have heard the Polish concerns and Poles, practically every Pole I talked to for many years, has made this point. And President Bush, more important than me, President Bush heard the Poles, and his initiative announced in Tallinn late last year is designed to answer these concerns. What the President said is, we think there is a way forward to increase our security, but also open up the visa waiver program to some of our closest friends. We're preparing legislation to take to the Congress to do just that: to strengthen the security of all of - all visitors coming to the United States, but also to open up the visa waiver program for countries like Poland. We've talked to the Polish government about this, we think that this is a good initiative; it will be a tough fight in Congress. Poland has its friends in Congress: Senator Mikulski has introduced legislation which is designed to help, but there are also security hawks, they hate the visa waiver program altogether. They want everyone to have visas. So we're going to have a robust debate, a tough fight in Congress, but the President has proposed - will propose legislation to help fix this problem, I hope it passes, I certainly support this, and we have listened to the Poles; that's why we're doing this.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, is it possible to waive the visas this year?

Assistant Secretary Fried: That depends on the legislation, it depends how soon the Congress asks - acts to pass it. Look, if it were up to me, we would have done this years ago. [In Polish] It depends on the Congress. We have to finalize our legislation, we have to present it, it will be a vigorous debate and we will see. But you heard, this is not something that Dan Fried proposed, this is something that the President of the United States proposed and we mean business.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, let's be realistic. When may this take place?

Assistant Secretary Fried: Well, I would like to have the legislation passed this year. And then there'll be an issue of implementing it. But let's put it this way: I would love to have this done while President Bush is in office and while I'm in my current job. It would give me a great deal of pleasure, but step by step [In Polish]. The President had to make a decision that the current situation wasn't working and he made the decision that we had to move forward and we will.

TVN: Do you think in two years' time we will have this waiver...

Assistant Secretary Fried: I...

TVN: Because this is a question important - when. Please suggest something.

Assistant Secretary Fried: Look, it's a fair question. My problem is that it will depend on the Congress. And we're not a parliamentary system. The democrats now have a majority so this will be a fight, but we will try.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, do you think that the draft made by Senators Mikulski and Voinovich which was presented to the Senate during the past days will help you here?

Assistant Secretary Fried: I look forward to working with Senator Voinovich and Senator Mikulski on this. They are good friends of Poland; they are good friends of Central Europe. They know, of course they know that part of the world and they are going to, I suspect they are going to be good friends. I can't speak for what they will say. They haven't seen our legislation yet. But I would think that we would need all of the friends of Poland, all of the friends of Central Europe to make this work.

TVN: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for spending your time with us.

Source: US Department of State, http://www.state.gov.