“Based on its testing record, we cannot rely upon this missile defense program to protect the United States from a North Korean long-range missile. If anything, over-reliance on missile defenses could impede diplomatic efforts that could avoid a dangerous confrontation,” Philip Coyle, who formerly headed the Pentagon’s office of operational test and evaluation and is now a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, warned in a statement. “In several ways, this test was a $244 million dollar baby step, a baby step that took three years.”
