Missile defense is, in many ways, the poster child for expensive and technologically dubious US defense systems that survive based on misconceptions about their strategic benefits. A November 1 Letter to the Editor in the Washington Times by Admiral James A. Lyons, Jr. provides a classic example of these misconceptions.
Quote of the Day: Monty Python Edition
Philip Coyle, director of the Pentagon’s operational testing office during the Clinton administration, said in a Sept. 21 e-mail to Arms Control Today, “Discrimination is the Holy Grail, but no one really knows how to find it or how to get there. And like Monty Python [in the British comedy group’s movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail], the Missile Defense Agency has only pretend solutions, banging coconuts together to make the sounds of horse’s hooves, when what America needs is real horses.”
Center Senior Science Fellow Philip Coyle, October 2012.
Quote of the Day: Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic Edition
The National Research Council (NRC), “Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense: An Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives”, September 11, 2011.
More Transparency and Dialogue Needed with China on Missile Defense
The debate on missile defense in the United States is sorely lacking in substance and has been overly politicized, especially recently given the hyper-partisan relationship between Congressional Republicans and President Obama. There is little discussion on the actual capabilities of current missile defense systems and the projected capabilities of future ones. We also haven’t paid enough attention to how others will react to a new strategic environment in which the United States has robust missile defense capabilities (or is perceived to).
2012 RNC Platform on Nuclear Weapons and Missile Defense
The National Security Network’s superstar leader Heather Hurlburt has already thoroughly dissected the national security section, and while portions of it are surprisingly reasonable, much of it is unsurprisingly ridiculous. The platform’s discussion of nuclear weapons and missile defense falls under the “ridiculous” category. The Kyl/Turner wing of the GOP appears to have co-opted the RNC on these issues.
