The Heritage Foundation published a web memo that lays out defense budget bill conference issues and recommendations.
The Obama administration proposes to cut $1.4 billion from the missile defense budget, which would reduce ground-based midcourse defense interceptors in Alaska and California to 30, down from 44. Heritage calls this program critical and urges the conference committee to consider the long-term impact of these cuts. An excerpt:
“Expand Sea-Based Missile Defense with a System to Protect U.S. Coastal Areas. In the near term, nations with inferior missile capacity could nevertheless attack American territory by launching a short-range Scud missile from a container ship off the U.S. coast. In order to counter this threat, Congress could direct the Navy to deploy the existing Standard Missile-2 Block IV interceptors–which were successfully tested earlier this year–on Aegis-equipped ships. Further, Congress should provide the necessary funding to create an East Coast test range for ballistic missile defense.
“While funding was not restored for 44 ground-based midcourse interceptors during debate, Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) successfully included provisions in the Senate bill that would continue production of ground-based interceptors and forestall premature closing of Missile Field 1 at Fort Greeley, Alaska. Members should keep these provisions intact in the final bill.”
Heritage believes the administration’s defense agenda represents such a “fundamental shift,” the issues deserve to be thoroughly debated.
David K. Rehbein, a national commander of the American Legion, wrote an article for the Business Wire on the state of missile defense. Even among those who believe strong missile defense is no longer needed, North Korea’s defiance has proven otherwise. The rogue state may not have the capability to launch a nuclear weapon now, but it is determined to improve the technology required to do so.
“Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes the threat seriously enough to have positioned a military ground-based missile defense system to protect Hawaii from missile attack, Rehbein writes. “While The American Legion applauds this decision, the nation’s largest veterans service organization is concerned that the United States is not doing enough to protect us from, well, nuclear annihilation.”
Although nuclear threats loom over us, the Obama administration intends to cut $1.62 billion from the missile defense budget. As we’ve noted before, the administration’s cuts impact Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Interceptors, which would be reduced from 44 to 30.
“The Heritage Foundation has produced a chilling documentary titled ‘33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age.’ A trailer of the film can be viewed at www.legion.org. It makes the sobering point that a ballistic missile fired at the United States could reach its target in 33 minutes or less. It is a moral imperative that our leaders in Washington protect America from this catastrophic possibility.”
Watch the trailer of the high-definition documentary:
