Missile Defense, The Space Relationship and the 21st Century
Independent Working Group
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, September 15, 2009
Missile defense has entered a new era. With the initial missile defense deployments, the decades-long debate over whether to protect the American people from the threat of ballistic missile attack was settled – and settled unequivocally in favor of missile defense. What remains an open question is how the American missile defense system will evolve in the years ahead to take maximum advantage of technological opportunities to meet present and emerging dangers. There is ample reason for concern. The threat environment confronting the United States in the twenty-first century differs fundamentally from that of the Cold War era. More...
Yet Another Foreign-Policy Fumble
Peter Brookes
The New York Post, September 7, 2009
THE Obama administra tion is getting ready to throw the proposed Eastern European-based US missile-defense system under the bus. The move is a sop to the Russians (and to lefties here at home) -- but will render us increasingly vulnerable to the growing Iranian nuclear/missile threat.
It's sheer madness -- yet another major foreign-policy fumble in its Pollyanna-ish effort to make everything right with the world. MORE...
Plumage -- But at a Price
Charles Krauthammer
National Review Online, July 10, 2009
"The signing ceremony in Moscow was a grand affair. For Barack Obama, foreign-policy neophyte and "reset" man, the arms-reduction agreement had a Kissingerian air. A fine feather in his cap. And our president likes his plumage..."More...
The Live Desk
Clifford D. May
Fox News Channel, July 3, 2009
America's security prior to 9/11, today and missile defense...More...
Poland Reassured Over U.S. Missile Shield Plans: Minister
Jonathan Fowler
AFP , July 8, 2009
"WARSAW (AFP) — Washington has calmed concerns that in a drive to rebuild ties with Russia it could drop a plan to set up a US anti-missile base in Poland, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Wednesday..."More...
Nukes treaty gives GOP weapon on missile defense
Alexander Bolton
The Hill, July 7, 2009
"Senate Republicans see a new agreement forged between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as an opportunity to force Democrats' hand on a major security issue: missile defense. Sixty-seven senators, or two-thirds of those present, must agree to ratify any deal seeking to reduce nuclear weapons between the two nations, giving Senate Republicans, who only control 40 seats, rare leverage..."More...
What Americans Need to Know About Missile Defense: We're Not There Yet
Kim R. Holmes, Ph.D., James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Peter Brookes and Baker Spring
The Heritage Foundation, July 8, 2009
"In 33 minutes or less, life as we know it in America could end. That's how long it would take for an enemy ballistic missile launched from the other side of the world to hit the United States. If it carried and detonated a nuclear weapon high over the center of the country, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) would literally fry the nation's electrical grid and all of the circuitry that powers our homes, businesses, hospitals, phones, cars, planes, traffic lights, ATMs, water supplies, and anything else not "hardened" against such attacks. The EMP Commission chairman has testified that, within just one year of such an attack, 70 percent to 90 percent of Americans would be dead from starvation and disease..."More...
Missile Defense: The Stakes Could Not be Higher
National Commander David K. Rehbein
The American Legion, July 6, 2009
"A young girl picking daisies opens one of the most infamous political ads ever devised. It is suggested her life is about to end violently and quickly as a nuclear mushroom cloud appears. President Lyndon Johnson intones, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God’s children can live, or go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die."..."More...
Learning to Love Missile Defense
Peter Brookes
New York Post, July 1, 2009
"THE Obama administration is reacting to the antici pated launch of another North Korean long-range ballistic missile, expected to fly over the Pacific toward Hawaii sometime soon, by putting missile defense on alert. That's a big change from last time..."More...
Missile-Defense Countdown
The Editors
National Review Online, July 2, 2009
"President Obama sounded like a man who was glad to have missile defenses last month, when it became apparent that North Korea was planning to test a long-range rocket over the Pacific Ocean: "Well, first of all, let's be clear. This administration — and our military — is fully prepared for any contingencies," he assured Harry Smith of CBS News. "The t's are crossed and the i's are dotted in terms of what might happen."..."More...
We Can't Shoot Down Missile Defense
James Hanson
Blackfive, June 5, 2009
"I was on a conference call yesterday with Newt Gingrich and Bill Fortschen sponsored by FDD on the topic of missile defense. The danger posed by a number of our enemies due to the missiles they already have, and the obvious problems with North Korea and Iran attempting to gain significant capabilities were discussed. There were calls to contact members of Congress ahead of upcoming votes to stop the reductions to funding for many programs that really comprise our only likely defense to these threats. If you accept that these rogue nations present the possibility that we could lose 100k people to a successful nuke-tipped missile attack, the need for a robust missile defense is fairly straightforward..."More...
Why Cut Missile Defense Now?
Kim Holmes
April 16, 2009
"An enemy tests a weapon that could kill millions of your countrymen in the near future. Having worked diligently on a defense against such attacks, your government has one within reach. Then, suddenly, it pulls back on this effort..."More...
The Risk of Electromagnetic Pulse Devastation is Greater Than Ever. Why Does Washington Dismiss it?
James Carafano
April 10, 2009
"Sunlight fills the bedroom. It's past 8 a.m., and it's cold. Why didn't the alarm go off? The bathroom lights are out. The house is without power. The battery-operated radio plays nothing but static. The phone is dead. What on earth has happened?..."More...
Independent Working Group Issues Major Report on Ballistic Missile Defense
January 29, 2009
"The Claremont Institute is happy to announce that the 2009 report of the Independent Working Group has now been released and is available for download. Entitled Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century, the report includes updated chapters on the ballistic missile threat, the politics of missile defense, and a summary of what must be done to defend America..."More...
Korean Lessons
Clifford D. May
April 9, 2009
"President Obama had warned Kim Jong Il that should he launch a long-range ballistic missile the U.S. would “take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it can’t threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity..."More...
Reporting on Missile Test Fails
James Carafano
April 9, 2009
"The April 6, William Broad article “North Korean Missile Launch Was a Failure, Experts Say” in the New York Times diminishes the scope of the threat posed by the North Korean ballistic missile program by omitting some key facts..."More...
Atomic Ayatollahs
Peter Brookes
February 23, 2009
"GET this: The Obama adminis tration has put plans for our missile-defense system in Eastern Europe under review - even as fresh signs pop up that Iran is closing in on nuclear and ICBM capabilities. Talk about bad timing..."More...
33 Minutes: All Our Enemies Need to Change America as We Know It
Kim R. Holmes
February 2, 2009
"33 minutes-about the time it takes to get a pizza delivered-is all it takes for a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile to travel halfway around the world and obliterate an American city. In less time, if detonated high above the homeland, its Electromagnetic Pulse would incapacitate everything from ATM and hospital machines to traffic lights and computers for thousands of miles. Life would never be the same.."More...
Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
William R. Graham, John S. Foster, and Defense Department
January 1, 2008
"The electromagnetic pulse generated by a high altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. The increasingly pervasive use of electronics of all forms represents the greatest source of vulnerability to attack by EMP. Because of the ubiquitous dependence of U.S. society on the electrical power system, its vulnerability to an EMP attack, coupled with the EMP's particular damage mechanisms, creates the possibility of long-term, catastrophic consequences. The implicit invitation to take advantage of this vulnerability, when coupled with increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, is a serious concern. A serious national commitment to address the threat of an EMP attack can develop a national posture that would significantly reduce the payoff for such an attack and allow the United States to recover in a timely manner if such an attack were to occur." More...
Testimony of William Graham, Chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the U.S. from EMP Attack
House Armed Services Committee
July 10, 2008
"The appropriate response to the EMP threat is a balance of prevention, planning, training, maintaining situational awareness, protection, and preparations for recovery. Such actions are both feasible and well within the Nation's means and resources to accomplish.... However, if the EMP threat is unaddressed, the current status of U.S. critical national infrastructures can both invite and reward attack." More...
Future Shockwave?
Clifford D. May
August 14, 2008
"Lights would go out. Telecommunications would fail. Computers would crash. Bank accounts would disappear. The stock market would cease operation. Refrigerated food warehouse would shut down. Sanitation and emergency services would be crippled. Before long, millions of Americans would, as the Wall Street Journal flatly phrased it, ‘die of starvation or want of medical care.' It would require months or even years for America to climb out of the pre-industrial hole into which it had been flung. Any number of terrorist groups would be proud to carry out such an attack. But, as the EMP commission also reported, only Iran (1) is attempting to develop nuclear weapons; (2) has recently conducted multiple missile tests of its nuclear-capable Shahab-3 missiles; (3) has done so from cargo ships in the Caspian Sea; and (4) also has detonated those missiles at high altitude. What's more, the CIA has translated Iranian military journals in which EMP attacks against the U.S. are explicitly discussed." More...
On The Pulse
Jack Spencer
August 16, 2004
"But today, we must consider a giant electromagnetic pulse (EMP) a significant threat on its own.... Failure to address this significant vulnerability only encourages leaders already hostile to us to attempt to exploit this weakness." More...
High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessment
Clay Wilson
August 20, 2004
"Modern high technology microcircuits are especially sensitive to power surges, and the possible vulnerability of U.S. civilian computer systems to the effects of EMP has been discussed in the media. EMP can be produced on a large scale using a single nuclear explosion, and on a smaller, non-nuclear scale using a device with batteries or chemical explosives. Several nations, including reported sponsors of terrorism, may currently have a capability to use EMP as a weapon for cyber warfare or cyber terrorism, to disrupt computers, communications systems, or parts of the U.S. critical infrastructure." More...
Foreign Views of the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
Dr. Peter Pry
March 8, 2005
"We cannot rule out that Iran, the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism, might provide terrorists with the means to execute an EMP attack against the United States.... An Iranian political-military journal, in an article entitled ‘Electronics To Determine Fate Of Future Wars,' suggests that the key to defeating the United States is EMP attack: ‘Once you confuse the enemy communication network you can also disrupt the work of the enemy command and decision-making center. Even worse, today when you disable a country's military high command through disruption of communications you will, in effect, disrupt all the affairs of that country.... If the world's industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults, then they will disintegrate within a few years.... American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot.'" More...
Iran's Global Ambitions
Michael Rubin
March 17, 2008
"[E]ven as dozens of diplomats, intelligence analysts, and military officers focus on how to counter Iranian strategy in the region and enhance U.S. public diplomacy, the Iranian challenge has grown far broader. The United States has a compartmentalized strategy; Iran has a global strategy that Washington has been unable to counter: for every three trips Ahmadinejad takes to Latin America, Bush takes one." More...
Gates Sees Iran as Still-Serious Threat
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates
December 9, 2007
"There can be little doubt that their destabilizing foreign policies are a threat to the interests of the United States, to the interests of every country in the Middle East, and to the interests of all countries within the range of the ballistic missiles Iran is developing." More...
Iranian bomb 'intolerable'
Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute
November 20, 2007
"The dangers an Iranian bomb would present are intolerable. Iran is the pre-eminent sponsor of terrorism. Iranian weapons are responsible. More...