We have neglected military funding for both offensive and defensive weapons systems over the eight Obama years, and we may pay a terrible price for not following President Reagan’s vision. In the years since Reagan was president, the world has gotten more dangerous. Terrorist attacks have increased and now take place all over the world, injuring or killing hundreds, if not thousands of people. Ballistic nuclear missiles could kill entire populations unless stopped.
I can’t speak for President Reagan, but I believe he was thinking about our national security when discussing the “Star Wars” defense system. President Reagan was most serious about one of his most important jobs as president, keeping the American people safe. The evolution of missiles as the means of attack continues to grow, and recent events in North Korea should force us to rethink our defense against missile attacks.
Where do we go from here?
Our missile defense programs have been underfunded for years. I believe the reason for this underfunding is the point that many people misread what is going on in the world, thinking that missiles were not a serious threat. Some have called it the Peace dividend following the end of the Cold War. We now have to ask ourselves if it is possible, that some rogue nation like North Korea could actually launch a ballistic missile attack on U.S. territory or that of our allies. If it were successful because we didn’t have the defensive equipment to shoot the ballistic missiles down, we would suffer enormous costs in lives and treasure, particularly if the incoming missile was equipped with a nuclear or electromagnetic-pulse warhead.
The United States has to protect itself from any ballistic missile threat with additional deployment of Ground Based Missile Defense Systems (GMD). The next step that needs to be done is a space-based missile defense interceptor layer. If we look at the launch angle and the arch of the missiles launched by North Korea, we can see the opportunity we have to shoot them down with a space-based defense system.
Currently, the deployment of our existing security system is in Alaska and along the west coast, but this leaves the rest of the nation vulnerable. These current defense positions make an assumption that attacks will come primarily from the North or West. It is possible that a mid-west or east coast attack could come from over the North Pole, but the expansion of the GMD to cover the eastern seaboard would make us more secure.
Since the Second World War, the way the world has handled nuclear expansion was through the concept of “Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).” There is a great irony that the abbreviation of MAD speaks of the situation today with a madman in charge in North Korea. “Mutually Assured Destruction” is not on his mind. If he wants to kill Americans, the destruction of his own nation is not of concern to him. The greatest threats to us are the decisions of a madman. Previously, Osama bin Laden focused on killing Americans and was representative of the madness in the world. The Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei regularly prays, “Death to America.” Our former president and two secretaries of state told us this was just posturing by Khamenei for the people of Iran. His posturing, so they say, does not represent a threat to America.
The commitment by the Iranian government to build nuclear weapons is without a doubt. They suggest that if America brings more sanctions against their country, they can turn on the nuclear system in less than three hours. I believe that the North Koreans and the Iranians are cooperating on the development of rockets and nuclear weapons.
We need expanded ballistic missile defensive capabilities because we don’t know from where a missile might come, and to assume it will be land-based is a great mistake. If we have both land and space-based defensive systems, we can improve our protection.
The most recent incident with North Korea should demonstrate that we need to accelerate the building of land based GMD and at the same time put in place a fast track, space-based ballistic missile defense.
Dan Perkins is an author of both thrillers and children’s books. He appears on over 1,100 radio stations. Mr. Perkins appears regularly on international TV talk shows, he is current events commentator for seven blogs, and a philanthropist with his foundation for American veterans, Songs and Stories for Soldiers, Inc. More information about him, his writings, and other works are available on his website, DanPerkins.guru. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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