The Pentagon is set to declare operational soon a multibillion dollar system intended to defend America from attack by ballistic missiles, but which critics say will not work.

The Bush administration is exploring the possibility of expanding the nascent U.S. missile-defense system into Eastern Europe as a protection against an attack from the Middle East.

In its effort to quickly build and deploy a missile defense system, the Bush administration has quietly sidestepped a federal law that requires "operational testing" for new weapons systems before they are deployed.

An independent review of the multibillion-dollar U.S. ballistic missile shield due to start operating by Sept. 30 finds that it is technically incapable of shooting down any incoming warheads.

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As early as this summer, rockets hidden in silos near this wind-swept town will give the nation its first operating defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles since the 1970's.
Although the system is not a secret, it has been revived with so little fanfare that few Americans seem to realize it exists.

The planned U.S. national missile defense system should be ready to protect the country against a North Korean ballistic missile attack by the end of the year according to U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish.

Phillip Coyle, a former top U.S. Defense Department official argues that the Bush administration?s plan to field a national missile defense system by September 2004 has ?lowered the bar on the acceptable standards for an effective military system."

A new report from the U.S. general accounting office warns (again!) that attempting to rush the deployment of a missile defense system could lead to unforeseen cost increases and technical failures that will have to be fixed before it can hope to stop enemy warheads.

Russia has warned that the U.S. decision to field a limited missile-defense system in 2004 had pushed the venture into "a destabilizing new phase," but most U.S. allies have long viewed the decision as inevitable.

The author argues that U.S. plans for missile defense are simply a cover for destabilizing plans to weaponize outer space.