Antimissile Antipathy
He hasn't been the president-elect for long, but Barack Obama is already facing his first foreign-policy contretemps. Within hours of the election, Russian leader Dmitri Medvedev threatened to deploy short-range missiles near Russia's border with Poland to "neutralize" an antimissile system that the Bush administration has long planned to install in Poland and the Czech Republic. A few days later, after Obama returned a congratulatory call from Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish leader issued a statement claiming Obama had offered reassurances that he would proceed with the missile plan. But Obama's team disputed Kaczynski's account, saying in a statement that Obama had made "no commitment."
Indeed, Obama has expressed considerable skepticism in the past about the Polish antimissile scheme. In July 2007, he issued a statement accusing the Bush administration of having "exaggerated missile-defense capabilities." In a statement issued prior to the Democratic convention, Obama said he supported continued testing of the antimissile system—but that he also believed a "final decision on deployment must wait" until testing is completed in "2010 at the earliest."
Defense experts affiliated with the Democrats say that the money for missile defense could be better spent elsewhere. Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank led by Obama transition chief John Podesta, described the current Bush plan as a "system not proven to work against a threat that doesn't exist to protect people who don't want to be protected." John Bolton, former Bush administration arms-control expert, said Obama "doesn't like this program and he's looking for a way to shut it down"—a move that Bolton believes would be a grave mistake. An Obama spokeswoman said that his statements about the Polish antimissile plans are consistent with current U.S. policy. A Pentagon spokesman says that recent testing on a similar system has been largely successful.
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Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues.
Hosenball came to Newsweek from "Dateline NBC," where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio.
Hosenball has been honored with a number of prestigious awards. Most recently, along with a team of Newsweek correspondents, he was awarded the Overseas Press Club's most prestigious honor, the 2002 Ed Cunningham Memorial Award for best magazine reporting from abroad for Newsweek's coverage of the war on terror. His reporting and that of his colleagues earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002 for its coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. And a story he co-authored was highlighted in a citation Newsweek received by the White House Correspondents' Association when it awarded the magazine the 2002 Edgar A. Poe Award for "excellence on a story of national or regional importance. "Newsweek's September 11 coverage started long before the attacks. An article in the magazine's February 19, 2001 issue warned with chilling accuracy: 'The threat posed by (Osama) bin Laden is growing -- and coming ever closer to home."
Hosenball was a contributor to the CANAL + TV documentary, "L'Argent de la Drogue" (Drug Money), which was awarded the "Sept D'Or," the French equivalent of an Emmy. He also contributed to NBC News' coverage of the BCCI scandal, which earned a 1991 Peabody Award.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Dublin. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and son.
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