“We’ve invested billions of dollars. We’ve proven this technology,” says Sessions, who represents the state where much of the GMD development work was conducted. “An extra site [on the East Coast] would clearly provide extra protection. And I think it would validate our investment. It’s such an unacceptable thing to have developed a system that will work and then not deploy it.”
Senator Jeff Session (R-AL), May 17, 2012.
And for a different view…
To date, GMD has demonstrated a limited capability against a simple threat.
Dr. Michael Gilmore, Director, Operational Test & Evaluation, December 2011.
The current GMD system has serious shortcomings, and provides at best a limited, initial defense against a relatively primitive threat.
National Research Council Report “Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense: An Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives”, April 30, 2012.
UPDATE 5/22: Over at his excellent new blog “mostlymissiledefense”, MIT’s Dr. George Lewis asks 12 multiple-choice questions about the GMD system, the answers to which further demonstrate the folly of Sen. Sessions’ gloating.
