Former U.S. security officials are calling for a defense umbrella that would stop cruise missiles launched by terrorists and their government sponsors.

The Washington-based Heritage Foundation, in a report, sent priority recommendations to the White House that called for changes in the intelligence, law enforcement and military commands. The 34-member panel was headed by former State Department counter-terrorism chief L. Paul Bremer and former Attorney General Edwin Meese.

The report cited the proliferation of cruise missiles and their ability to fire them from aircraft or ships. Unlike ballistic missiles, which first are launched up into the atmosphere and follow a parabolic trajectory flying back down to a target, cruise missiles generally fly a straight, almost line-of sight trajectory.

"To defend against cruise missiles, defensive systems should be stationed around the U.S. coast on ships or at critical sites on land," the report said. "Among the systems that would be effective are radar-directed, high-speed gun systems; laser and directed-energy weapons; and short-range, high-speed air defense missiles. The Mark 15 Vulcan-Phalanx gun system, short-range, man-portable air defense systems, and air- or ground-based lasers all offer effective and easily fielded defenses against cruise missiles."

The report said such a missile defense system would be part of a a strategy that ensures a "robust capability to conduct counterterrorist military operations; to protect U.S. interests should a general war break out on the Korean Peninsula, in the Middle East, or in Southwest Asia." U.S. special forces would be equipped with surveillance and reconnaissance systems such as the Predator and Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles.

The panel also recommended the bolstering of U.S. intelligence operation abroad. This would include the recruitment of CIA agents willing to work under non-official cover as well as officers from multiethnic, multilingual backgrounds.

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