Congress should reject agenda-driven technical analysis and adopt astraight-forward policy of building the most effective missiledefense system possible.
In March 9 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee,Lieutenant General Henry A. Obering, the Director of the MissileDefense Agency, stated that his agency made history in 2004 byestablishing a "limited defensive capability" for protecting theUnited States against ballistic missile attack. Congress, as itundertakes the task of drafting the fiscal year (FY) 2007 DefenseAuthorization bill, must recognize that this defense is very thinand needs to be strengthened. It can do so by making severalsignificant changes in the missile defense budget, such as addingfunds to accelerate the concurrent testing and operation programfor the long-range missile defense interceptors in Alaska andCalifornia and to improve and expand the sea-based interceptors onthe Navy's AEGIS ships. Looking to the future, Congress shoulddirect the Agency to start serious work on placing missile defenseinterceptors in space.
If Congress is going to cut the Block II-B development effort, it should direct the Navy to test an earlier version of the Standard missile against a long-range target missile as soon as possible.
The debate over missile defense has shifted from whether missile defense should be pursued as a matter of principle to whether deploying such a defense will be effective in practice. Victory inthe debate over the principle of fielding a missile defense must befollowed by victory in the debate over fielding a truly effectivedefense for the American people.
The debate over missile defense has shifted from whether missiledefense should be pursued as a matter of principle to whetherdeploying such a defense will be effective in practice. Victory inthe debate over the principle of fielding a missile defense must befollowed by victory in the debate over fielding a truly effectivedefense for the American people.