Missile Defense

The Obama administration’s recent decision to cancel the proposed missile defense site in Europe to appease Russia is misguided at best and dangerous at worst.  The Iranian threat is real.  We cannot allow the current administration to jeopardize our national security and supersede the security and stability of Europe and other strategic allies that deserve the highest possible level of defense. 

Previous missile defense plans included sites on the American West Coast to protect our homeland from threats in Asia and the Pacific theater while the system in Eastern Europe was meant to protect our allies in Europe and the East Coast from any Iranian attacks.  Ground-based Midcourse Defense Systems are already being constructed in Alaska and California to defend our West Coast, but President Obama’s cancelation of the Polish and Czech sites leaves us with less viable, more costly mobile land-based and sea-based missile defenses to defend our deployed forces and allies in Europe.  According to a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office, it will take an additional two years to develop and deploy mobile defenses with comparable capabilities to the program that was just scrapped, and these mobile alternatives are not meant to address the threat of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile until 2020.

Several Presidential administrations have attempted to negotiate with Iran, but the rogue nation has pressed on with its nuclear ambitions despite nearly unanimous opposition in the international community.  Iran has shown no intention to abandon this reckless path and becomes more threatening to us and our allies with each passing day.  We need an integrated, layered national missile defense to deter this threat, and we need it now.  While the Obama administration appears content to abandon our allies to appease our enemies, I will continue to fight for a proper missile defense system to protect our homeland and our interests abroad to be deployed as soon as possible.

In its budget proposal for fiscal year 2010, the Obama administration has proposed several funding cuts to our national missile defense, including a $700 million reduction in Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD).  However, this program is essential for the integrated, layered missile defense that our country needs to protect itself from very real and ongoing threats around the world.  As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, I helped secure an additional $50 million for GMD that will keep the Ground-Based Interceptor production line from going cold.  This legislation now contains approximately $850 million to fund GMD.  I will continue to fight so that this program receives the funding necessary to ensure the protection of our nation and the safety of the American people.