US to create single command for nuclear force, missile defense

The Pentagon is to create a single military command for US nuclear and missile defenses, as well as a network of early warning satellites and radars, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld said the new command will merge the US Space Command and Strategic Command "into a single entity that will be responsible for both early warning of, and defence against, missile attack as well as long-range conventional attacks".

The change, approved by President George W. Bush, is part of a broader effort to make the US military command structure more responsive to the threat of terrorism and the massing of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogue states.

Rumsfeld said the new, streamlined and more cost-efficient command will probably be located at Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base, where the US Strategic Command is headquartered. That agency oversees the US arsenal of nuclear-capable submarines, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Air Force General Ralph Eberhart, the commander-in-chief of the US Space Command, is expected to head the new command.

In addition to the nuclear forces, Eberhart will manage a globe-girdlling network of satellites and radars operated by US Space Command from its headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which is charged with providing early warnings of any missile attack.

The combined command will also be the ultimate user of the missile defence systems under development by the Pentagon, Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters this week.

Washington, June 27, 2002 (AFP)