focused on “producing and fielding hardware” than protecting the home- land. It called for building an addition- al interceptor base, either in Maine or upstate New York. The new base would be in addi-
tion to the bases already operational in California and Alaska. Experts say bases on the West Coast are not well- suited to intercept- ing ICBMs targeting Eastern cities. The first intercep-
tor bases were built on the West Coast to guard against an attack from North Korea. But as Iran continues its pur- suit of nuclear-weapons technology, officials are growing increasingly con- cerned about an attack against the East Coast. GOP House members warn that President Obama’s current missile- defense plan leaves the U.S. home- land exposed. Rep. Michael R. Turn- er, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Sub- committee, has sponsored legislation mandating that an operational East Coast site be operational by 2015. “The East Coast site is about ensur-
ing we have the capability to counter the threats of the future,” says Tom Crosson, a spokesman for Turner. Although Turner’s proposal was
scaled down in the final version of this year’s defense bill, GOP aides say it is still a step in the right direction. “The fact that we got this much
from a president and Senate hostile to missile defense is a good sign,” one aide says. “We don’t want to be in the position where we need this in a year, and we need to do three years of envi- ronmental studies to make it happen.” House Democrats challenged Republicans, claiming the Iranian threat was overblown and the pro- posal was an election year stunt. Rep.
Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., called the Republican plan premature and said the Iranians don’t have the technology for an ICBM. According to one Defense Depart-
REP. SANCHEZ, REP. TURNER
ment report, the earliest Iran could field a missile capable of striking the United States is 2015. But the Con- gressional Research Service suggests that timetable appears increasingly unlike- ly. The estimated cost of the base is $4 billion. Demo- crats warn that price could double. Republicans insist
that Democrats are taking the Iranian threat far too lightly. “Those who say we don’t need this capability have their heads buried in the sand,” says Crosson. Heritage Foundation expert Michaela Bendikova agrees it would
be a mistake to underestimate the state of Iranian missile technology. “They have the technology,” she
says. “They just have to build it.” If the East Coast interceptors are
modeled after the ones already in ser- vice in Alaska and California, they will use sophisticated sensors, including massive sea-based X-band radars the size of offshore oil-drilling platforms, to track incoming ICBMs. Once a mis- sile is detected, an interceptor would collide with the enemy ICBM and destroy it. Defense officials warn, however,
that current U.S. interceptors have had mixed results. Opponents ques- tion their ability to detect dummy warheads and overcome other coun- termeasures. In fact, the National Research Council report found the system in need of a complete top-to- bottom overhaul. Whether those findings will influ-
ence the design of the East Coast inter- ceptor base is unknown. There is no guarantee the Obama administration will green light the base for actual construction. The alternative, however, is to
wait for the administration’s plan for missile defense in Europe. Sea-based elements of the downsized European missile shield are already in place. But its land-based, Standard Missile-3 interceptors are not scheduled to be placed in Romania until 2015, and in Poland in 2018. It would be almost a decade before
those interceptors would be ready to destroy an Iranian ICBM headed for the U.S. homeland — assuming every- thing goes according to plan. In response to which Bendikova
asks, “Why are we waiting until after 2020 to defend the United States?”
TEST LAUNCH An interceptor missile is fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, on a path to thwart a test missile launched from the Marshall Islands.
Nolan Peterson is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan as a special-operations pilot, and then spent two years studying at the Sorbonne before becoming a journalist.
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