The Canadian military wants to take part in a controversial U.S. plan to build a North American ballistic missile defence shield by contributing more than $600 million in space hardware.

Canadian Forces officials have been pushing for a role in the American national missile defence system since 1997, according to Access to Information documents obtained by the Citizen. Under the Canadian military plan its participation in the system would be deemed an "asymmetrical" role, where Canada would not directly fund the American missile defence shield but provide a variety of space and ground equipment for surveillance and other jobs to support the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or NORAD. NORAD currently does the job of watching over American and Canadian airspace.

According to the documents, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff want NORAD to take a key controlling role in the missile defence system if the Canadian government approves Canadian Forces participation.

Canadian participation in the American system, which would involve the construction of interceptor missiles capable of destroying ballistic rockets headed toward North America while they are still in space, was also recommended at a high-level meeting during a government retreat in Merrickville in November. That meeting involved Canadian military officials and government policy specialists.

The Canadian military's view is bound to clash with that of Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, who has questioned the need for the missile defence system and whether it would violate existing U.S. treaties with the former Soviet Union.

The documents suggest a brewing cabinet battle over ballistic missile defence: One internal military report on the missile shield notes that Defence Minister Art Eggleton has expressed strong support for the NORAD alliance and the need for it to be "modified as necessary" to protect North America.

Publicly Mr. Eggleton has said the government will wait to make a decision on participation in the missile shield until the Americans are ready to deploy the system.

But the Canadian military documents warn that the U.S. will want an answer from the Liberal government on its participation either later this year or in 2000. Canadian Forces officials see contributing to the U.S. military space program as essential to maintain good relations between the two defence organizations and to continue the NORAD alliance.

The Canadian Forces failure to contribute to such space sensors and other space activities could lead to the demise of NORAD, with the U.S. military questioning Canada's contribution and deciding to do surveillance of its airspace on its own, according to reports. "To reduce the risk of this occurring, the Canadian government must provide a clear signal to the U.S. government in this regard," one Department of National Defence memo states.

"A timely and positive decision to participate in the missile defence of North America is considered the most definitive method of expressing Canada's interest."

To counter the possibility that Canada would be cut out of the NORAD system, the Canadian military has developed its Joint Space Project, a plan to spend $624 million over the next 12 years on a variety of space projects. Final details are still being worked out, but the space project could include surveillance of and from space, as well as warning radars and various other systems.

The military documents state the Joint Space Project is "separate but related" to the national missile defence system.

The Department of National Defence already has five ballistic missile defence research projects on the go and a Canadian defence scientist and officer have been working at a U.S. facility near Colorado Springs, Colorado on the simulation and evaluation of ballistic missile defence systems, according to the documents.

The Canadian Forces has spent about $875,000 on the research projects.

A separate Canada-U.S. Space Co-operation Working Group is examining suitable areas of co-operation between the two countries in support of the national missile defence system.

The U.S. government announced in January it would spend $10 billion U.S. on developing the technology to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles that might be fired from so-called rogue states like North Korea. The system, to be ready in 2005, would also protect against accidental launches of nuclear missiles by Russia. Once the technology is developed, the U.S. government would decide whether to build the system, but many defence analysts believe construction of the missile defence shield is inevitable.

According to the documents, American officials recommended that the Liberal government inform the Canadian public about the missile system and debate the issue at an early stage. But the Liberals rejected that idea, saying they will publicly deal with the missile issue when the system is ready to be deployed, rather than debate "theoretical concepts" associated with the shield.

Jim Fergusson, one of Canada's leading experts on ballistic missile defence, says the Canadian space plan is essential to maintaining good relations with the Americans and to continue protecting North America.

"The general view is that Canada would not make an economic contribution to national missile defence," said Mr. Fergusson, deputy director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Defence and Security Studies. "Our role would be in being involved in what we've always done in NORAD, that is our participation in early warning. We'd be providing that central command and control centre where data from sensors would be fed out to American interceptor sites."

Mr. Fergusson said a Canadian space surveillance system would take "some of the burden" off the Americans. Failing to contribute to the U.S. military space program would be seen as yet another slap in the face to the Americans, he added.

In many circles in the U.S. military, Canada is seen as a freeloader on defence issues. At the same time, American officials have been angered by Canadian foreign policy on the landmine issue and nuclear weapons. Both have painted the U.S. as villains, Mr. Fergusson said.

In January, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Gordon Giffin, said Canada must spend more on defence in order to effectively take part in joint alliances such as NORAD.

Quietly, the Canadian military has been laying the groundwork for a space surveillance system to tie into American efforts. In November 1997, Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Maurice Baril, and then U.S. Air Force chief Gen. Howell Estes decided to expand U.S.-Canadian ties to include space surveillance, according to the documents. A Canadian-U.S. Military Space Co-operation Working Group in its report in 1997 also recommended the two defence organizations collaborate in development of command and control systems for the missile defence shield.

Documents covering the Canadian Forces space strategy also show that military officials are increasingly worried that North American defence in the future will rely more on space-based sensors rather than radars in Canada's Arctic. Several of the reports mention that American officials have pointedly told their Canadian counterparts that the days of having warning radars on Canadian soil are numbered because of the capability of future space sensors.

One briefing note to former defence minister David Collenette notes that the Americans are looking for a "tangible" contribution to their space effort, and failure to do that would hurt relations between the two countries.

In 1997, discussions with Pentagon officials, Canadian military officers suggested a variety of ways to help out the U.S. military's space effort, according to the documents.

Included was the building of radars or high-powered telescopes for surveillance of space to "reduce (the) workload" on the Americans. Another option looked at using a sophisticated radar system being developed on the Newfoundland coast to warn against low-flying cruise missiles that might be launched toward North America.

But disarmament specialist Bill Robinson said a ballistic missile defence system for North America would be impractical and a waste of money for Canada. He said if a rogue nation or terrorist group wanted to attack the United States it would do it secretly so it could not be traced.

One method would be to put a nuclear or chemical weapon on board a ship, sail it into an American harbour, and detonate it. "You wouldn't want to launch a ballistic missile because the Americans would know exactly where it came from and retaliate with everything they had," said Mr. Robinson, a defence analyst with Project Ploughshares.

He said there would be few consequences if Canada declines to take part in the U.S. missile system and does not believe the NORAD arrangement would be jeopardized.

"As long as we have radar warning information from our north to share with the Americans they'll share with us," said Mr. Robinson. "The only drawback I see from not taking part is that our officers won't feel like they're in the loop."

But Mr. Fergusson points out that the danger of a missile being fired from a so-called rogue state is the same for Canada as it is the U.S. It may be headed for a U.S. city but there's a possibility such a device could land or detonate near or on Canadian territory, he added.

Just as important is the need to support the ballistic missile defence system as part of the ongoing defence relationship with the Americans, Mr. Fergusson said. There is a view in the U.S. that Canada is not pulling its weight in defence matters, he noted.

Mr. Fergusson said it also would be impossible to separate NORAD functions at its Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, complex from the system to be put in place for a missile shield.

At Cheyenne Mountain, where Canadian and American officers work side by side, are equipment for both NORAD and the U.S. Space Command's surveillance system. "You can't simply pull NORAD out of from ongoing developments, particularly centered on national missile defence, and still have NORAD useful and functional," said Mr. Fergusson. "As one American officer put it to me, 'If Canada is not in, then what are Canadian officers going to be doing in Cheyenne Mountain?' The answer is nothing."

Canada spends approximately $300 million annually on NORAD, about 10 per cent of the cost of the alliance. But Canada's contribution to NORAD is generally seen by Canadian military officials as a token amount for which they receive far more in return in the form of aerospace intelligence than is given.

Mr. Fergusson said if Canada fails to contribute to the U.S. military space effort, then NORAD will be jeopardized.

"In functional terms over a period of time it would be downgraded and eventually either fall into such insignificance or it would disappear," Mr. Fergusson said. "It won't happen overnight. But slowly things will start to change."