by Robert G. Gard and John Isaacs The Pentagon’s ground-based, mid-course missile defense system (GMD), formerly called by the more descriptive name National Missile Defense, is being developed and deployed to intercept one or a very few warheads launched by inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) against the United States. The administration is requesting $10.4 billion for missile […]
The Pathetic State of National Missile Defense
by John Isaacs The Bush Administration planned to deploy a National Missile Defense in 2004, claiming that it could protect the United States from a small attack from North Korean nuclear-tipped missiles. It failed, and it failed miserably. The most recent flight test on December 15, 2004, the first in two years, would have been […]
National Missile Defense: Not Ready for Prime Time
SPECIAL REPORT INITIAL DEPLOYMENT The Administration intends to deploy an initial operating capability of a ground-based strategic ballistic missile defense system (GMD), designed to attack incoming missiles in their mid-course phase of flight, beginning in the summer of 2004. Initial defensive operations will be declared before the end of September of this year. The current […]
Bush’s Missile Defense System: Does it Pass Muster?
President Bush has announced plans to begin deployment of a strategic missile defense by September 30, 2004. The initial deployment will include six silos at Fort Greely, Alaska, and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California; each silo will contain one interceptor missile. More are to follow in succeeding years. Site preparation has already […]
