Pentagon’s Flawed Approach To Homeland Missile Defense Puts Nation At Risk (From RealClearDefense)

There are reports that Pyongyang may be restarting its nuclear weapons program, and Kim Jong-un has promised some kind of ballistic missile Christmas surprise. Iran likewise continues to develop its long-range ballistic missile capabilities. Yet, this is the time the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) chose to cancel its program to develop an improved warhead, called a kill vehicle, for the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) that is the core of the military’s ability to defend the U.S. Instead, the Pentagon decided to build both a new interceptor and kill vehicle from scratch. Such a program will take at least a decade to come to fruition. In the meantime, there are no plans to put in place any additional or stopgap capabilities to address the growing threat. This is an unacceptable situation. I have written a commentary for RealClearDefense here.