Should the North American Aerospace Defense Command be a real "Defense" command rather than a "We Can Identify Where the Missile Will Hit North America" command? I'm gonna say "yes".
The Defense Department and the Biden administration should consider reviewing current missile defense policy in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to the White House’s nominee to take over US Northern Command/NORAD, Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot.
Guillot’s comments came while responding to a question from Sen. Deb Fischer, R.-Neb., during his Tuesday Senate confirmation hearing as to whether the US should change current missile defense policy “to allow for the possibility of defending against limited missile attacks from either Russia or China.”
Guillot properly said that was ultimately a policy question above his pay grade. But I'm a civilian so it is within my nonexistent pay grade.
I think America should absolutely upgrade our defensive goal. CONUS is no longer a sanctuary.
And our ability to project power abroad to keep our coasts from being our first line of defense relies on keeping our homeland mostly safe, at least.
There is a monkey in the wrench, however, when we start down this path. As Israel and Ukraine have demonstrated, you may think you can restrict your air defense system to defending key military assets. But civilians and the politicians who pay for and order the systems will have higher priorities. Like protecting civilians.
But the need to protect this power projection platform from escalating enemy attack capabilities remains. As I proclaimed, I'm not paranoid. I'm imaginative.
UPDATE: Well sure:
What’s the best way to take out a highly maneuverable, hypersonic missile that bounces off the atmosphere and screams towards its terrestrial targets? In the view of a senior military official here, just take the thing out before it even launches, of course.
That kind of forward defense has been an option for a long time.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
