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December 19, 2002 10:30 a.m. Cold War Let’s buy Greenland, for the sake of missile defense.

epublican politicians are in the habit of reminding the public that the United States lies exposed to an ICBM attack as long as it doesn't have missile-defense capabilities. Ronald Reagan was the first GOP presidential candidate to make a major point of this, in 1980; President Bush continued the tradition in 2000.

If all goes according to the White House's plan, however, in 2004 it won't be possible to say that Americans are completely unprotected against missile attack. This week, the Bush administration promised to have ten antiballistic missiles put in operation that year. Six will find a home at Fort Greely in Alaska and four will be placed at Vanderberg Air Force Base in California. These ten interceptors, plus another ten slated for Fort Greely in 2005, will provide a rudimentary defense against a limited attack from east Asia — i.e., axis of evil charter member North Korea.

Twenty antiballistic missiles certainly are not enough to defend the United States against a robust attack, but they're a start — and a hugely significant one. Next March will be the 20th anniversary of Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative speech. It's about time a few ABMs went on line. Eventually, the United States will need more interceptors. It will also have to consider attacks that come from the other direction, over Greenland instead of Alaska.

That's why the administration is pushing to upgrade its radar system at Thule, in the frigid northwestern corner of Greenland. On Monday, Secretary of State Colin Powell met with representatives from Denmark and Greenland to discuss that matter. Last month, the ruling Danish government signaled its support for U.S. missile-defense plans. Greenland, however, remains a problem. Although Denmark makes security decisions on its behalf — Greenland is a semiautonomous territory owned by the Danes — the locals are wary of a U.S. military presence that goes back more than 50 years. Last year, Greenland prime minister Jonathan Motzfeldt declared his own sentiments: "My personal opinion is that one should avoid NMD [national missile defense], that's for certain. ... I don't think you can find a single person in Greenland who in any way is positive towards NMD."

Native Greenlanders are not implausibly concerned that their island will be targeted in a hot war, simply because they house important U.S. national-security assets. They also have some firsthand experience with nuclear mishaps. In 1968, a B-52 carrying four nukes crashed 12 miles away from Thule. All the bombs were accounted for, but studies later showed radioactive plutonium contamination on the ocean floor. For people who derive their living from the sea, as many Greenlanders do, this is no small thing.

Two weeks ago, Greenland held elections for its parliament, the Landstinget. A left-wing party, Inuit Ataquatigiit, captured a quarter of the popular vote and looks to be a rising power. This development, says Victoria Samson of the Center for Defense Information, "marks a new page in anti-missile defense movement."

It probably won't derail the Bush administration's plan to upgrade radar capabilities at Thule — the cooperative Danish government still has the final word on such matters. Though it's worth keeping an eye on, especially since Denmark's opposition party has been hostile to U.S. missile-defense plans. If elections there were to go the wrong way, Copenhagen could start creating headaches for American missile-defense hawks.

Complete independence for Greenland is probably the most troubling option. Some 80 percent of Greenlanders are said to want it, even though their economy currently relies on massive subsidies from Denmark.

And the best option? Last year, I proposed that the United States purchase Greenland from the Danes. We've tried to do it in the past, and we've previously done business on the Virgin Islands. The piece elicited an unexpected torrent of antagonistic e-mails from Denmark (how many people can say they've had that experience?), suggesting that maybe the offer wouldn't fly in Copenhagen.

Yet the Bush administration is pumping billions of dollars into missile defense; this week's announcement will add $1.5 billion to the budget over the next two years, on top of the $16 billion already scheduled to be spent. It would seem that we've got the cash to buy some frozen real estate.

How much would Greenland cost? Hard to say, and let's not kid ourselves about the likelihood of actually purchasing the place.

But the reason it doesn't happen shouldn't be that we didn't ask.