May 4, 2004 :: New York Times :: News
The New York Times runs a piece noting the plans for missile defense deployment this year. Noting that “This Time It’s Real,” the article points to the problem which has thus far plagued missile defense, namely that while limited research and development have gone, nothing has actually been fielded. Such is true of the administrations of Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and even the Reagan administration which began the Strategic Defense Initiative.
The Bush administration has broken from the paralysis of inaction by committing to an actual deployment. The Times notes of critics’ claims that the land-based system to be deployed has been insufficiently tested, but it should be remembered that part of the purpose of the Fort Greeley Alaska deployment has always been to provide a test bed for further testing.
The Times also remarks upon the relative quietude with which the deployment is proceeding, which has been happening with “little fanfare.” While the deployment is certainly deserving of fanfare, the fact that it has not elicited it is of a very secondary importance. For the first time in some 30 years, namely since the brief-lived deployment at Grand Forks, Nebraska in the mid 1970s, the United States will have some very limited defense against certain strikes.
It must also be remembered that the Alaska and California deployments will and should be but the first step in an evolving and layered defense, which one day should protect the United States from any missile attack whatsoever. Quoted in the Times piece include critics Richard Garwin and Dean Wilkening, the latter of whom suggests that the 2004 deployment is politically rushed and remarks that “I simply don’t see the threat.” Such delusion seems almost inexplicable, when compared with the almost daily news of increasing proliferation of missiles around the world. (Article)
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