While the war on terror has been grabbing a lot of public attention, the United States has quietly been in the process of neutralizing the missile arsenals of China, North Korea, and even Iran. This is probably one of the most important stories concerning the strategic balance, yet one of the least covered.
Layered defenses from sinking ballistic missile submarines to shooting down missiles from launch or near the point of impact:
These systems are not at the point where they can stop every inbound missile. The thing is, they still provide a deterrent against launching attacks – because a country that does decide to launch missiles at the United States or any of its allies protected by a missile defense shield will not know which of its missiles will fail to reach their targets.
All good. But while I trust that the deterrent value of even imperfect defenses against rational actors, against irrational killers, this is not a defense. If they launch ten missiles, they'll be fairly satisfied if one gets through to wipe out a city.
But for these irrational states, a missile shield complements our sword. When we strike, we will have a shield to stop any crippled and piecemeal counter-attack. This is where the shield comes in handy--not as defense or deterrent.
Missile defense won't protect us from every threat. But it is certainly a key component of protecting our homeland from nuclear attack. And we are building this defense right now.
