Shapiro: Missile Defense Wanted
July 6, 2006 :: Analysis
Ben Shapiro, a 2006 Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute, discusses the urgent need for missile defenses on FamilySecurityMatters.org. Without an effective missile defense system, notes Shapiro, the U.S. risks defeat in the War on Terror and in future confrontations with rogue nations. Since terrorist groups must have the aid of state sponsors in order to succeed in their operations, the U.S. and its allies must have the capability to destroy these state sponsors in order to successfully prosecute the War on Terror. However, the absence of an effective U.S. missile defense system provides rogue nations with a way to deter such attacks. Shapiro lays out a plausible and troubling scenario:
Imagine, for example, that Iran worked with al-Qaeda to station a ballistic missile off the coast of California. Imagine also that Iran, which is currently racing to update its missile technology to take advantage of American shortcomings, develops missiles capable of reaching the United States directly. Al-Qaeda launches its ballistic missile over Los Angeles, and the city is destroyed. America, recognizing Iranian sponsorship, seeks to retaliate. Iran, however, explains calmly that if any attempt at regime change is made, it will launch its missiles on Israel and America. Would a president knowingly sacrifice millions of additional lives to avenge the millions lost in Los Angeles?
This is international blackmail, and it is promoted by American vulnerability. There is a reason that Kim Jong Il spent so much time and effort developing both nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology capable of carrying those weapons to America’s shores. Kim Jong Il, like most of America’s enemies, sees that he can prevent aggressive American action by gaining a deterrent. The more vulnerable we are to ballistic missile threat, the more our enemies will exploit the vulnerability—and less likely we are to do anything about it.
(Article, Link)
» More stories on: Analysis, Iran, North Korea, Terrorism
Hezbollah: All of Northern Israel in Rocket Range
May 25, 2005 :: Ha'aretz :: News
Ha’aretz reports that the militant Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah has 12,000 Katyusha rockets deployed in Lebanon capable of striking all of northern Israel. On May 24, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah stated unequivocally: “Any hand that reaches out to our weapons is an Israeli hand that will be cut off.”
For reasons like these, the U.S. and Israel have been collaborating on such defensive systems as the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), designed to track and destroy incoming rockets with a high-energy laser beam. Some recent reports have suggested, however, that the U.S. may be withdrawing funding from THEL (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Allies, Israel, Terrorism
» Missile system details for: Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)
Iran Tests Suggest Possible EMP Trials
April 27, 2005 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
The May edition of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets reports that recent missile tests by Iran may have been part of the development of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) warhead. Jane’s cites testimony from the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security from March 8, 2005, by Peter Pry and Lowell Wood. Wood is a member of the Congressional EMP Commission, which released its important report on the EMP threat in July 2004.
Some of Iran’s tests of its Shahab-3 had been terminated before the completion of their ballistic trajectories, that is, exploding in mid-flight by what appeared to be a self-destruct mechanism. Iran has nevertheless described the tests as fully “successful.” Pry noted that the apparent contradiction would make sense “if Iran were practicing the execution of an EMP attack.” Lowell Wood is quoted as having testified to the subcommittee that such an attack upon the United States could keep off most electrical functions for a time period of a few hours or decades, depending on how it was executed. Wood also warned the subcommittee that such an EMP warhead could be delivered against the United States by “a Scud missile launched from a freighter off the Atlantic coast.”
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, wrote about the EMP threat in the April 15 edition of the Washington Post.
Joseph Farah from World Net Daily carries a related story today, available online. (Link)
» July 22, 2004: EMP Commission releases report
» April 15, 2005: Washington Post, Sen. Jon Kyl on the EMP threat
» April 27, 2005: World Net Daily on possible Iran EMP preparations
» Full text of The Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
» More stories on: Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons, Iran, Ship-Launched Threat, Terrorism
» Missile details: Shahab-6, Small ICBM
Russia Backpedals Missile Proliferation to Syria, Hezbollah
January 13, 2005 :: News
The Russian newspaper Kommersant recently reported of Russian plans to sell a number of missile systems to Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism and in particular Hezbollah. These included the shoulder-fired SS-18 Igla anti-aircraft missiles, but also and more significantly, eighteen of Russia’s new and made-for-export SS-26 Iskander missile, and the S-300PMU-2 (SA-10) air and missile defense system, similar to that which rings Moscow, and other systems. The S-300PMU-2 system is one of Moscow’s most developed air and missile defense systems. The SS-26 has increasingly made the news for its touted capabilities to evade other air-defenses—possibly the U.S. Patriot interceptors—and the Russian’s plans to market it widely, including in the middle east. The export version of the SS-26 Iskander missile has a reported range of 280 km, sufficient for Syria to strike nearly all of Israel.
At this time, negative publicity may be sufficient reason for Russia to back out of the missile deal, but it nevertheless serves as yet another example of Russia’s long track record of being willing to proliferate missiles and missile technology throughout the world. (More »»»)
» January 12: Original report of planned missile sales by Russian newspaper Kommersant
» January 13: Ivanov denies plans to proliferate Iskanders to Syria
» January 12: Interfax: Colonel Vladimir Anokhin defends missile sales to Syria
» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia, Syria, Terrorism
» Missile details: SS-26
» Missile system details for: S-300P (SA-10 Grumble)
Egyptian Party Official: Use Missiles Against Los Angeles
October 20, 2004 :: News
A recent statement on Al-Jazeera television by the Secretary-General of the Egyptian Labor Party should serve as a reminder about those who seek to acquire ballistic missiles:
Those who bomb Fallujah cannot prevent me from bombing Los Angeles. Why Fallujah? Why do we always feel inferior to them? What is the meaning of this inferiority complex? If we had missiles we should have bombed Los Angeles or any other city until they stopped bombing Fallujah, Samarra, and Ramadi.
(Article, Link)
» More stories on: Terrorism
Hezbollah Terrorists Seeking Missiles From Syria
July 29, 2004 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
The Hezbollah terrorist group is reportedly seeking to acquire short range, chemical weapons armed ballistic missiles from Syria, according the head of the Israeli Defense Force intelligence branch, Major General Ze’evi Farkash. The Global Security Newswire cites a story from the Voice of Israel radio program.
Bloomberg reports that Hezbollah has already acquired missiles with a range of 215 kilometers. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Proliferation, Syria, Terrorism
EMP Commission Report Points to Need for Missile Defense
July 22, 2004 :: Reuters :: News
Although overshadowed by the 9-11 report, another report was also today delivered to Congress. The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack delivered the executive summary of their report to a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. An electromagnetic pulse results from a nuclear explosion high in the atmosphere, and involves the disruption of nearly every form of electrical system, upon which the United States is so heavily dependent.
Mandated by law, the Commission was asked to assess the threat from “all potentially hostile states or non-state actors that have or could acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles enabling them to perform a high-altitude EMP attack against the United States within the next 15 years.” They concluded that such an attack “has the potential to hold our society at risk and might result in defeat of our military forces.”
Of course, to assess an EMP threat from a “potentially hostile state or non state actor” implicitly admits that both rogue states and terrorists could well acquire a ballistic missile and a nuclear warhead and deliver them to the continental United States. The question of whether the nuclear armed missile would result in a low or high (EMP producing) altitude nuclear explosion—is quite secondary to whether the United States will remain vulnerable to terrorists or a rogue state’s ability to deliver the warhead by missile in the first place. (More »»»)
» Full text of Commission report
» Janes Defense Weekly on EMP report
» More stories on: Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons, Terrorism
Nuclear Threat from Possible North Korea-Al Qaeda Union
April 1, 2004 :: Washington Times :: News
Military commanders testifying before the House Armed Services Committee warned of possible nuclear transfers from North Korea to terrorist groups, notes Bill Gertz writing in the Washington Times.
Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, leader of the U.S. Pacific Command, said of al Qaeda that “They have the will and the skill, obviously, to carry out a devastating terrorist attack. So that is kind of a nightmare scenario, and that’s why we feel so strongly about a nonnuclear Korean Peninsula.
Army Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, observed that a nuclear-armed North Korea
threatens the entire Northeast Asia region as well as other nations in the Pacific…In addition, they’re a known proliferator of missiles, missiles technology, narcotics and other illegal activities. What’s to prevent North Korea from deciding to sell to other nations or terrorist organizations nuclear-grade — weapons-grade material? That’s a significant concern to all of us. …I agree totally with Admiral Fargo that a nuclear weapon in the hands of a terrorist organization is one of our greatest concerns. And given the history of North Korea relative to selling missiles and missile technology, it’s a concern we must address.
(Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea, Terrorism
Al Qaeda’s Ballistic Missile and WMD Plans
March 22, 2004 :: AFPC :: News
Pakistan’s Khabrain newspaper of March 12 claims that Al-Qaeda has for the past year been preparing chemical- and nuclear-armed ballistic missiles somewhere within Afghanistan for use aganist the United States, as noted by the American Foreign Policy Council. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Nuclear Weapons, Proliferation, Terrorism
Tenet Testimony: North Korea Continues Ballistic Missile Advances
February 24, 2004 :: CIA :: News
Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as to the nature and extent of terrorism and the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. In general, he noted that the “picture is changing before our eyes—-changing at a rate I have not seen since the end of the Cold War.” After noting the continued efforts of terrorists such as Al Qaeda to acquire ballistic missiles and WMDs, Tenet went on to roughly outline the major capabilities and proliferation activities of India, Pakistan, Syria, and Iran, but devoted particular attention to three “pivotal states” of concern: China, Russia, and North Korea. (More »»»)
» More stories on: China, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Proliferation, Russia, Syria, Terrorism
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