In 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which was designed to eliminate their nations’ respective intermediate range, ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. In discussing INF negotiations with the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan famously summoned upon one of his guiding principles: Trust but verify. Thirty-five years later, the Obama Administration has adopted an entirely different tack in dealing with ongoing missile defense negotiations with Russia. Rather than negotiate from a position of informed strength, …
Recently, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that there may be no summit between NATO and the Russian Federation if no agreement on missile defense is reached. This is understandable: Moscow has so far refused all Western entreaties to sign a workable missile defense arrangement and threatened that the NATO–Russia summit may be cancelled. If so, the loss will be all the Kremlin’s. NATO should not feel under any pressure to finalize a missile defense agreement, as Moscow is only trying to constrain the development of the U.S. missile …
Last Thursday, Iran and Turkey signed an agreement aimed at increasing trade between the two countries and doubling bilateral business by 2015. The agreement was inked by Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Turkish Minister of the Environment and Urban Planning Erdo?an Bayraktar following the 23rd session of the Joint Economic Cooperation Commission of the two countries. This is an important signal to the United States and its allies: Ankara refuses to march to the Western drumbeat. It takes one step forward agreeing to deploy NATO missile defense, only …
America’s ability to protect its homeland from a devastating ballistic missile attack could be severely damaged if the sequestration process under the Budget Control Act of 2011 happens, writes Mead Treadwell, Alaska’s lieutenant governor, in a recent op-ed. He is right: The U.S. missile defense program already struggles to keep the pace with ballistic missile proliferation. The Obama Administration is partly responsible for this state of affairs. In 2009, the Administration proposed a $1.6 billion cut to the missile defense program compared to the prior year’s budget estimate. The program …
The mention of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack in the presidential GOP debate hosted by The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute has ignited controversy. After a New York Times article called this threat “theoretical,” Frank Gaffney, director of the Center for Security Policy, offered yet another contribution to the EMP discussion, defending candidate Newt Gingrich’s statement that an EMP attack could be one of the biggest threats the United States faces. An EMP is a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by the rapid acceleration of charged particles. …
In the latest exercise in fact-twisting, General Nikolai Makarov, Russian Chief of the General Staff, said that Russia is being pushed toward an arms race because of U.S. plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe. Markarov continued, “We are prepared to cooperate, to build a missile defense together. Why don’t they meet us halfway?” In fact, the United States has gone more than half way, and similar accusations are nothing but an exercise in bellicose rhetoric. These and similar threats are an attempt to restrain the U.S. missile defense capability. …
Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia would deploy short-range missiles and possibly withdraw from the New Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (New START) if the United States moves forward with its plans for a missile-defense system in Europe. Russian threats are yet another indicator that the “reset” in relations between Moscow and Washington is on its last leg. Medvedev ordered the Russian military commanders to prepare for deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander short-range ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad on the Polish and Lithuanian borders, the southern region of Krasnodar, and …
According to an article in The Washington Times, the Obama Administration is trying to make yet another concession to the Russians over the U.S. missile defense program. This time, the Russians would be provided with the missile burnout velocity (VBO) of the U.S. SM-3 interceptor used on Aegis ships. This is a bad idea that has potentially significant limitations for the future of the U.S. missile defense system. It is not clear in what form the United States would give this information to the Russians. The implications of even a …
Ballistic missiles pose an increasing risk to the United States and its allies, particularly as more nations strive to acquire nuclear weapons. The once exclusive nuclear weapons club now has nine members, and Iran is knocking on the clubhouse door. Altogether, at least 32 countries have ballistic missile capabilities. Defending the United States, its forward-deployed troops, and its friends and allies against such threats should be a national security priority for the U.S. president. We have a fledgling missile defense capability. But further investment, research and procurement are needed to …
In a recent paper published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Uzi Rubin, former head of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, discusses the significant contribution that the Iron Dome defense system has made to Israel’s security and its implications for the future. America can learn from Israel’s cost–benefit analysis for the effectiveness of the system. Iron Dome is an anti-rocket active defense system that made its debut during the rocket attacks launched from Gaza into Israel this past April and August. Without even being declared to have initial operational capability, …
