A candidate for a top nonproliferation post in the Obama administration played down on Monday the threat from Iran’s long-range missile program as a reason to build a European missile defense system. Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher is under consideration to be undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, a position that has involved shaping policy on US missile defense plans in Poland and the Czech Republic. As chair of a congressional military appropriations panel, she has been a critic of US long-range missile defense systems.
