August 31, 2006 :: Chicago Sun-Times :: News
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today published an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times on the current and future status of U.S. ballistic missile defense. The Secretary discussed the current missile threat faced by the U.S., the Bush administration’s rationale for leaving the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the steps currently being taken by the Pentagon to deploy a defensive shield, and the critical role of testing and experimentation. He described, in particular, the changing role of ballistic missile defense in the age of rogue nations, as well as what he sees as the current goal of the system:
… The system being put into place today differs from the all-encompassing “shield” once thought necessary to deflect a massive Soviet missile attack. The program today is more limited in scope, but one that is successfully evolving and expanding over time. The goal is to fashion a system that will be able to engage a volley of several missiles launched by a rogue regime at the United States or its allies.
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