“It is not credible to promise better relations with Europe—and then stun Poland and the Czech Republic by abruptly abandoning plans to build missile defense bases there.”
Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, June 21, 2011
“And let’s be blunt: The third site in Europe was not going to happen, because the Czech government wouldn’t approve the radar….And so if it was going to happen at all, it would’ve taken years longer [than the Phased Adaptive Approach] and we still hadn’t negotiated the required agreements with the Poles in terms of the interceptors.”
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Hearing of the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, June 15, 2011.
Also of note from the hearing was outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen’s comments on the prospects for giving the SM3 Block IIB a boost phase capability:
I’ve been around missile defense for the last 15 years. And the whole issue of boost-phase intercept is an extraordinarily difficult technical challenge. And at least if someone’s broken through on that, I haven’t seen that. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek it, but I’ve seen an awful lot of efforts go after that and I was very supportive of the program adjustments that we made — particularly with respect to that, because I thought — my view was I thought we were throwing good money after bad.
