Riki Ellison on ICBM Protection Gap
The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance‘s Riki Ellison, an expert on missile defense, commented on last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, where witnesses testified about ballistic missile defense policies and programs in review of the Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011.
“During these hearings, the testimony of President Barack Obama’s appointees in the Department of Defense and the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, exposed five fundamental elements of the administration’s missile defense plan…”
Five elements of the Obama administration’s missile defense plan emerged from the testimony: Iran, with North Korea’s help, could hit the U.S. with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in five years; in 10 years, the U.S. will have a Europe-based second shot capability to defend against Iran’s ICBM; the current plan for homeland defense are interceptors in California and Alaska; for at least five years, there will be a protection gap against Iran’s ICBM; and Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly suggested a few approaches to protecting the U.S. until the gap is closed.
In light of these findings, Ellison suggests the administration “move forward with urgency for a robust testing and deployment plan of the two-stage GBI on or before 2015 to ensure full protection of the U.S. homeland from Iran.”
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Tags: ICBM, Iran, Riki Ellison