PERRY ZAPS STAR WARS

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Moving quickly to nip the budding talk of returning to Reagan's hawkish days, Defense Secretary William Perry today rejected calls for reviving a "Star Wars" missile defense system. Perry told reporters that there's no current threat justifying that kind of costly buildup. Should a reason for it materialize, Perry said, the Pentagon is prepared to meet the threat. Perry also disclosed that the Clinton Administration plans to move forward with an "aggressive" schedule for sea-based and ground-based anti-missile defense systems -- not a huge effort that could lead to deployment of a continental missile defense system. "That's where I think the debate is going to be in the Congress," Perry said.Perry's remarks suggest that the GOP right won't get a huge Star Wars budget, but instead can expect token defense spending hikes, saysTIME Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson. Expect the GOP to extract some concessions from Clinton in exchange for a scaled- down Star Wars program. "I think Star Wars spending is going to increase -- but I don't think it's going to be a big deal," Thompson says.Post your opinion on theWashingtonbulletin board.