7. US Missile Defense
US Department of Defense (DOD) spokesman Kenneth Bacon responded to an article in the Washington Post which said that an internal DOD report suggested that a US national missile defense capability could be accomplished faster through a sea-based system than a land-based system as currently planned by the Clinton administration. This transcript includes the questions and answers from the briefing.
"Quickest Way to Deploy NMD Is Via Land-based System, Pentagon Says"
"Full briefing text"
The Center for War, Peace, and the News Media has an edited transcript of a telephonic press briefing organized on June 1, 2000, featuring William Hartung of the World Policy Institute, and Frank Gaffney, Director of the Center for Security Policy, and moderated by Richard Halloran. The participants discussed the debate over US missile defense proposals. An audiofile of the briefing will be made available soon.
"What is Really Driving the Missile Defense Debate?"
Richard N. Haass argues that nuclear war has thus far been avoided thanks to deterrence and the notion of mutually assured destruction. "The question now is ... whether it makes sense to move to a world of less nuclear offense and more missile defense." John J. Miller notes that the question of whether missile defense is technically feasible remains the most powerful argument for its critics, an argument that is boosted by the failure of tests to go as planned. Roger Gathman reviews "Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan and Star Wars and the End of the Cold War" by Frances Fitzgerald, which criticizes former US President Ronald Reagan's plans to build a missile defense system.
"The New Nuclear Thing"
"No Defense"
"Book Review: Ronald Reagan's Greatest Movie"