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Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is seeking funds for a missile defense project in Hawaii. He wants $68.5 million from last year’s budget to build an Aegis Ashore test facility, bypassing the defense authorizers. (Source)

One of the defense authorizers, Senator John McCain, tried to block Inouye’s request by introducing an amendment that would require formal approval. We’ve blogged about reports that North Korea possess a long-range missile capable of reaching Hawaii. The U.S. has been testing the Theater High-Altitude Area Defenses in Hawaii in preparation for a Taepodong-2 attack. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) seeks to use funds that were intended for missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic for the project in Hawaii.

An excerpt:

“[MDA Lt. Gen. Patrick] O’Reilly called the establishment of the Aegis Ashore facility in Hawaii a ‘priority.’ The test facility could also provide an operational ballistic missile defense capability when needed, O’Reilly argued. The test launcher could provide continuous protection for the region, he added…Japanese intelligence officials have warned that North Korea could launch a long-range ballistic missile toward the Hawaiian islands, which are roughly 4,500 miles away, but U.S. intelligence analysts do not believe that North Korea has the ability to hit Hawaii.”

 
CNN International reports that North Korea fired seven missiles (310 mile-range) toward the Sea of Japan on July 4. Last month, Japan’s Coast Guard reported that North Korea banned ships from its coast by a wide range, fueling speculation that the rogue state was preparing to launch more missiles. North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles last week and at least five short-range missiles last month. The country also conducted a nuclear test. South Korea says North Korea has about 700 short-range missiles similar to the ones fired during the weekend.

Last week, the Washington Times reported that the U.S. was prepared to intercept a long-range Taepodong-2 missile if our territory was in its sights. North Korea has been threatening to launch the missile for a while. Has the time arrived?

Air Force General Victor E. “Gene” Renuart said, “The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I’m very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I’ve got high confidence that I could interdict that flight before it caused huge damage to any U.S. territory.”

The general also said North Korea was unpredictable. The rogue state backed off on a veiled threat to attack Hawaii with the Taepodong-2, but the U.S. is ready to respond either way. Our country has been testing the Theater High-Altitude Area Defenses in Hawaii in preparation for a Taepodong-2 attack.

 
Earlier this week, Japan’s Coast Guard reported that North Korea banned ships from its coast by a wide range, fueling speculation that the rogue state was preparing to launch more missiles. The ban will last from June 25 to July 10. Turns out the speculation was on point. The U.S. believes North Korea is gearing up to launch short- to medium-range missiles, according to intelligence. (Source)

This month, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired at least five short-range missiles. A ship called the Kang Nam, which was headed to Myanmar, was suspected of carrying banned weapons. North Korea threatened to attack Hawaii and hinted at more aggressive actions if its ships were stopped and searched. The U.S. sent the destroyer U.S.S. John McCain to intercept the ship.

The launch of short- and medium-range missiles, and not the long-range Taepodong-2, seems to indicate that Hawaii won’t be attacked. If North Korea goes foward with its long-range missile launch, the U.S. will deploy a missile intercept and radar system to Hawaii to shoot down the missile.

Is North Korea that stupid? The rogue state’s been pretty bold so far.

 
North Korea may be planning to launch a long-range Taepodong-2 towards Hawaii. Whether true or not, the U.S. is taking no chances. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said the U.S. was monitoring the situation, ordered the deployment of ground-to-air Theater High Altitude Area Defense missiles and the sea-based SBX Radar to Hawaii. (Source)

“Without telegraphing what we will do,” Gates said, “I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory.”

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said the U.S. intends “to vigorously enforce the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874″ and search North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons. As we noted earlier this week, North Korea has threatened retaliation if its ships are stopped and searched. What will happen if the rogue state refuses our requests? Mullen said the U.S. could “direct it to go into a port, and the country of that port would…inspect the vessel.”

What are our options if North Korea chooses to escalate if its ships are stopped? Mullen didn’t answer the question directly. He reiterated that the U.N. Security Council’s resolution speaks for the international community and its commitment to contain North Korea.

“It’s not just the United States, it’s a lot of other countries as well. And the north’s steps to further isolate itself, to further noncomply with international guidance and regulations, in the long-run, puts them in a more difficult position.”

FOX News reports that the U.S. will send the U.S.S. John McCain to intercept a flagged North Korean ship that may have weapons aboard. The navy destroyer will intercept the Kang Nam when it leaves a location off China’s coast.

Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and former vice-presidential candidate, criticized the Obama administration’s defense cuts to Alaska’s defense program. The president intends to reduce missile interceptors in Alaska and California from 44 to 30.

Palin said, “Reducing Alaska’s defense readiness in these perilous times is a show of weakness, it is not a sign of strength…And yet, Washington thinks it’s best now to actually cut defense spending in Alaska by hundreds of millions of dollars. Now that is an odd priority there.”

Palin is hardly alone in criticizing defense cuts. Republican members of Congress have been speaking publicly and publishing op-eds in mainstream publications. Between the president’s lukewarm support for strong missile defense and his unnerving tendency to want to hold talks with rogue nations, it’s no wonder North Korea has resolved to continue nuclear tests and missile launches.

While the president downplays the threat and cuts funding, North Korea is more determined than ever to launch missiles. Aviation Week reports that North Korea is preparing more launches. In fact, the rogue state has threatened war if other countries perform the duty of searching North Korean ships for contraband. An excerpt:

“The latest predictions point to additional medium-range, Rodong-class missile firings from North Korea’s Anbyon base on the east coast and a long-range missile (larger than the Taepodong-2) launch from Dongchangri on the northwest coast near the border with China…U.S. officials contend that international agitation and the threat of conflict is North Korea’s only tool to promote the country’s relevance and that Pyongyang doesn’t want war.”

Is it wise to base policy on what we think North Korea may or may not want?

(Source: Political Ticker and Aviation Week)

 
On June 11, 2009, the Heritage Foundation will host a panel discussion in Allison Auditorium at 2 p.m. ET. Speakers Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering and Heritage’s Walter Lohman and James Dean will discuss President Barack Obama’s missile defense budget cuts ($1.4 billion), his limiting interceptor deployment in Alaska and California, and his non-commitment to a third missile shield in Europe.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP at the event web page.

In other North Korea-related news, the Missile Defense Agency says the U.S. military has improved its ability to shoot down long-range missiles North Korea could be gearing up to launch. The military conducted a test simulating an attack from North Korea on December 5. (Source)

This news comes in the wake of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s statement that “there were some signs” North Korea will launch a Taepodong-2, a long-range missile with a reported range of 6,200 miles. Last year, it was reported that North Korea was building a missile launch site capable of firing advanced rockets.

 
Last week North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired at least five short-range missiles. This week the rogue nation may conduct a long-range missile test. Collective criticism against North Korea’s actions have been somewhat understated, which no doubt will embolden the country to continue testing and launching.

Last week U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there is no crisis. Today he said “there were some signs” that North Korea will launch a Taepodong-2, which reportedly has a range of 6,200 miles. (Source) In 2006, North Korea test-launched a Taepodong-3 missile, which failed.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that Israel is concerned that North Korea’s defiance will encourage fellow rogue nation Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University, told the paper that if “the Americans can’t show credibility on North Korea, then they won’t be able to go far. It’s a thermometer. The US has been threatening to take action against North Korea since the 1990s and the North Korea has been able to buy time. The Israeli concern is that’s exactly what will happen with Iran.”

It’s anyone’s guess what the Obama administration will do about North Korea besides downplaying the crisis.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports on “tougher responses” from the U.S. and our allies in Asia if North Korea continues its nuclear program. Gates said “other steps may be considered” if North Korea doesn’t disarm. A Pentagon official said the U.S. preferred six party talks, but admitted that such talks haven’t been effective against the rogue nation.

FOX News has posted a transcript from Greta Van Susteren’s show “On the Record.” News anchor Martha MacCallum interviewed retired Major General Bob Scales on May 29. An excerpt:

“MACCALLUM: All right, so it would seem that North Korea is a bit peeved, to put it mildly, that South Korea has joined this initiative with the United States and that they have — and as part of that initiative, they have the right to stop a ship. So that says to me that North Korea really wants to get some things on ships out of there and perhaps sold to other countries. And they’re doing quite a bit of advertising lately, aren’t they.

“SCALES: Well, that’s exactly right. And one of the reasons they fired these missiles is to demonstrate to their allies, people like Iran and Syria, Yemen, and so forth, that they have the technological capability to do this because, you know, they make several hundred million dollars off of sales of missiles and missile parts every year. And it’s that money that then fuels their nuclear weapons development and their missile development. So they need this money to keep coming in, in order for them to keep producing these weapons.”

 
The Heritage Foundation’s Kim Holmes wrote an article for the Washington Times in which he asks the question, “Why cut missile defense now?”

About the proposed $1.4 billion cut in the missile defense budget, Holmes writes:

“It’s being done in the name of ‘restructuring’ the missile-defense program. The administration is holding on to defenses against short-range missiles, while scaling back programs against long-range missiles – the kind North Korea and Iran recently tested.

“This makes no sense. Defenses against short-range missiles are all very fine, but they are not the missiles that most threaten the United States. That would be North Korea’s Taepodong-2 missiles tested April 5, which when fully deployed, could reach Alaska and California.

“One target of the cuts is the Airborne Laser (ABL), an energy-directed weapon placed on a modified Boeing 747-400. The ABL is intended to knock down a long-range missile shortly after it leaves the launchpad – the best time for an intercept because its warheads have not yet been deployed in space.”

Holmes also wonders why the Pentagon decided to turn its back on the Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV), which would destroy missiles in space. Along with the Space Tracking and Surveillance System sensor program, the MKV could effectively neutralize our enemies’ abilities to succeed in causing mass destruction.

Holmes puts the missile defense cut in perspective:

“It would be understandable if we couldn’t afford missile defenses,” he writes. “But that is clearly not the case. The $1.4 billion cut from the missile defense budget is 0.04 percent of the overall proposed federal budget. It’s like a rounding error in an Obama bailout…The roughly $10 billion we spend annually on all of missile defense amounts to only 13 percent of what local, state and federal government agencies pay for ‘first responders.’”

President Barack Obama would do well to know that appeasement and “dialogue” didn’t stop North Korea from launching a rocket, and nothing short of comprehensive missile defense will protect the U.S. and its allies from rogue nations.

The Heritage Foundation blog also comments on Holmes’s op-ed.

 
Last year, several sources reported that North Korea was building a missile launch site capable of firing advanced rockets. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told his country’s parliament that North Korea began building the site about eight years ago, and the site was 80 percent complete. A South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea was updating a missile launch site located on the coast of North Hamkyong to possibly test-launch a Taepodong-2.

According to the Associated Press, North Korea may be preparing to test-fire a missile that might have the capacity to reach the western part of the United States. While it is believed that North Korea has developed nuclear weapons, the U.S. does not believe the country has the technology to develop the kind of light-weight warhead that can be mounted on a missile.

North Korea is hoping the missile test will influence President Barack Obama in his dealings with the country. Last year, the U.S. removed North Korea from a state terrorist sponsors list in return for allowing inspections of areas suspected of nuclear activity. As part of the deal, North Korea will disable a source of weapons-grade plutonium, the Yongbyon reactor.

 
According to South Korea, North Korea is building a missile launch site capable of firing advanced rockets. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told his country’s parliament that North Korea began building the site about eight years ago, and the site is 80 percent complete.

North Korea has about 200 Nodong missiles with a range of 800 miles, capable of reaching Japan. The country also has 600 Scud-type missiles that may be capable of reaching South Korea. Last month, a South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea was updating a missile launch site located on the coast of North Hamkyong to possibly test-launch a Taepodong-2.

Last month, the U.S. removed North Korea from a state terrorist sponsors list in return for allowing inspections of areas suspected of nuclear activity. As part of the deal, North Korea will disable a source of weapons-grade plutonium, the Yongbyon reactor.

(Source: AP – Photo source: Reuters)