In today’s Wall Street Journal, Steven Pifer responded to Senator Jon Kyl’s (R–AZ) op-ed that argued that President Obama should refuse to provide written assurances to Russia that compromise America’s ability to defend itself. Pifer’s complaint with the Senate Republican Whip’s argument is that “an assurance could open a path …
During the NATO meeting in Chicago, the alliance will declare that it has an interim operational capability to defend itself against ballistic missile attacks. This is a major step forward for NATO and U.S. leadership within the alliance. The declaration marks the achievement of the first phase in the Obama …
When NATO leaders meet this weekend in Chicago, they are expected to announce an Interim Missile Defense Capability in Europe. This announcement might read well in the summit’s declaration, but a lot more will need to be done before the members of the alliance will be protected from the ever-increasing …
In his recent piece in The Wall Street Journal, Senator Jon Kyl (R–AZ) makes the case that the United States should not give Russian President Vladimir Putin guarantees, political or legal, that a U.S. missile defense system will not be effective against Russian missiles. President Obama recently indicated he will …
According to press reports, the House Armed Services Committee has preserved a provision in its draft of annual defense legislation that would place ballistic missile defense interceptors on the East Coast to defend U.S. territory more effectively against ballistic missile attacks, including short-range missiles carrying electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads that …
Yet again, critics of the U.S. missile defense program have been proven wrong. On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy conducted a successful test of its Aegis ballistic missile defense system using its newest ballistic missile defense interceptor, the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB. The interceptor, developed by the Raytheon Company, was …
During a recent missile defense conference in Moscow, Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov stated, “A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation worsens.” Makarov was referring to U.S. plans to deploy its missile defenses in Europe to protect allies and forward-deployed troops. Russia’s …
In a recent National Journal article, three-quarters of defense experts interviewed opposed any attempt by the Obama Administration to scale back missile defense deployment in Europe in exchange for promises of Russian cooperation with Iran. “If we drop these plans, we could witness the reemergence of Russia as a dominant …
North Korea unveiled a new missile during its April parade celebrating the 100th anniversary of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung. The missile is assessed to be a new mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Last year, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates first revealed the existence of a North Korean road-mobile ICBM. …
