U.S. development of missile defense systems is forcing the nuclear arms race into a new phase as China and Russia modernize their arsenals in response.
Fred Kaplan criticizes the Bush administration's over-emphasis on missile defense at the expense of research into the technologies necessary to detect the next terrorist attack.
The U.S. termination of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia could have dramatic repercussions for the security situation in South Asia, according to regional experts. The balance of power between China, India and Pakistan may be increasingly difficult to stabilize as the three countries adapt their nuclear and missile development plans to a new global security environment according to a new report from the Henry L. Stimson Center.
An MIT expert on national security technology tells us why the current missile defense project won't ever be able to do its job?and offers a better alternative.
A Pentagon agency, two major military contractors, and an independent research team led by MIT scientists produced flawed studies that exaggerated the success of a key test used to justify spending billions of dollars on the fledgling national missile defense program, according to two reports obtained by the Boston Globe.
Physicist Steven Weinberg reviews the history of missile defense and argues that little has changed in the debate over the last 50 years. He concludes that "seeking to deploy a national missile defense aimed at an implausible threat, a defense that would have dubious effectiveness against even that threat, and that on balance would harm our security more than it helps it, the Bush administration seems to be pursuing a pure rather than applied missile defense—a missile defense that is undertaken for its own sake, rather than for any application it may have in defending our country."
The author argues that the scale and budget of the U.S. missile defense plan will greatly reduce the independence and political neutrality of the Silicon Valley technology sector.
Paul Godwin speculates on how China would respond to a U.S. deployment of a national missile defense system.
One of the best arguments against missile defense I have seen in the current debate. Bill Keller argues that while missile defense proponents argue for 'the ability to defend ourselves' they also have the unstated goal of being able to protect U.S. ability to power project their forces overseas. Keller argues further that this might lead to more reckless military operations and nuclear arms races.
Senator Joseph Biden argues that even viewed solely through the lens of national security interest, "President Bush's decision to unilaterally walk away from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is a serious mistake."