U.S. names possible East Coast missile defense sites, but far from decision

(Reuters) - The Pentagon announced five possible missile defense sites in the eastern United States on Thursday, but said it was far from any decision to proceed with what would be an "extraordinarily expensive" program expansion in an era of budget cuts.

The possible new sites are Fort Drum, New York; Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Vermont; SERE Training Area at Naval Air Station Portsmouth, Maine; Camp Ravenna Joint Training Center in Ohio; and Fort Custer Training Center in Michigan.

Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, emphasized that no decision had been made to build an additional site for missile interceptors, and there was no money in the Pentagon's future budget plans for such a site.

In fact, she said, U.S. officials were concerned that across-the-board budget cuts would jeopardize the Pentagon's plans to add interceptors to an existing Alaska site, a move announced by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel after North Korea threatened to launch a nuclear attack against the United States.   More   PTG