Time to Rethink Missile Defense

Publication Date: October 2008

Publisher: Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Author(s): Robert Gard; Kingston Reif

Research Area: International relations; Military and defense

Keywords: Diplomacy; Intercontinental missiles; Presidential transition

Type: Brief

Abstract:

Despite the Bush administration's investment of an estimated $60 billion since 2001, U.S. national missile defense continues to be an unnecessary and counterproductive enterprise. With the U.S. government on autopilot until January 2009, it falls to the next president and Congress to set realistic expectations about what national missile defense can and cannot do. Three essential changes should be made immediately to shake off the misguided policy-making of the Bush years and set U.S. missile defense back on a productive course.