President Bill Clinton raised expectations that he will make such a proposal when he meets with Russia President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this weekend by telling European leaders he believed it would be unethical not to share missile defense technology with other "civilized nations."

"The president obviously will have more to say about that prior to the summit, presumably during the summit and after the summit," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said, declining to elaborate on Clinton's remarks Wednesday in Lisbon.

Clinton must overcome Russian opposition to deploy a US national missile defense without sacrificing the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a cornerstone of US-Russian arms conrol regimes.

Bacon and other US senior defense officials said Washington has long been willing to cooperate with Russia in areas related to missile defense.

"The president's remarks didn't come out of the sky," a senior US defense official told reporters. "The president's remarks come in a context in a series of initiatives already under way. And that you need to understand and interpret them in that context."

"What's out there, is out there. What may come further, you know, may come further. I don't think things have been ruled out," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Washington already has offered to cooperate with Russian on theater missile defenses, and have held two exercises as part of that, he said. Theater missile defenses are designed to protect forces in the field against missile attack.

Establishment of a center in Russia to share missile early warning data "may be a summit deliverable," the official said.

The United States also has proposed in the past to help Russia rebuild early warning radars that look into the Middle East and North Korea.

The officials also cited a US-Russian project to develop satellite-based sensors capable of detecting and tracking moving objects against the Earth's background.

US Defense Secretary William Cohen will follow up on any breakthroughs at the summit during a visit to Moscow June 13, the officials said.

"Whether or not President Putin decides this is the time to agree with President Clinton on a way forward is something that we are all going to have to wait and see," the senior defense official said.

"But even if they don't this is a good opportunity for a fruitful exchange between the secretary and his Russian counterparts, on where we are, what our system is and why we continue to proceed in the direction we are going," he said.

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MILSPACE
US and Russia Will Share Early Warning Missile Launch Data
Moscow - September 20, 1999 - American service members have stood vigilant for years against a possible Russian missile attack, and this year, Russians will stand watch with them -- on U.S. soil.