SOLVENCY: MULTI-LEVEL NMD IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE
THE GLOBAL NMD SYSTEM WOULD DETER LAUNCHES
Baker Spring, Research Fellow in National Security Policy, The Heritage Foundation, 2001, Defending America from Missile Attack
http://www.heritage.org/mandate/priorities/chap9.html //VT2002acslnMoreover, a deployed global missile defense system strengthens deterrence by reducing the likelihood that a missile launched toward U.S. territory, U.S. troops overseas, or regions of vital U.S. interest would succeed. The likelihood of limited success should deter adversaries from considering launching a strike in the first place.
BOOST PHASE NMD IS THE BEST SYSTEM
Bruce Anderson January 15, 2001, The Independent (London) SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. 3 HEADLINE: WHY NOT SHELTER BENEATH AMERICA'S DEFENCE UMBRELLA? //VT2002acsln
There is an alternative. During a missile's boost phase, just after it has been launched, it is large, hot and relatively slow. That is its moment of maximum vulnerability; that is the stage at which NMD could work.
As one of Mr Clinton's CIA directors, Jim Woolsey, has put it, boost- phase NMD is "rocket science, but not rocket science rocket science". This is the route that President Bush is almost certain to take. As the deployment would have to be much closer to the rogue states Fylingdales is unlikely to be required. But at some stage, the Europeans ought to make a contribution, for we too have everything to fear from rogue states with a holocaust missile capability.
BOOST-PHASE NMD SYSTEMS FOIL COUNTERMEASURES
BAKER SPRING, Research Fellow The Heritage Foundation, July 13, 2000 MYTHS ABOUT MISSILE DEFENSE AND THE ARMS RACE No. 1385
http://www.heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1385.html //VT2002acslnMyth #6: Deploying a national missile defense will encourage a Third World qualitative arms race to gain effective countermeasures.
Reality: Boost-phase defenses can defeat countermeasures, such as balloon decoys.
The assessment by the scientists may be optimistic about North Korea's ability to deploy effective countermeasures and pessimistic about America's ability to develop a weapons discrimination capability.
21 Such countermeasures would be problematic for the Administration's planned land-based missile defense system, which would intercept the warheads only during the mid-course of flight. The criticism, however, is not applicable to a robust missile defense system that includes a boost-phase intercept capability. As with MIRVed missiles, a boost-phase intercept system could destroy the launched missiles before they are able to release their warheads and any decoys. With this capability, North Korea and other states would have little incentive to spend valuable resources to modernize their limited missile force by equipping the missiles with decoys. For these reasons, The Heritage Foundation Commission on Missile Defense proposed a layered defense system in 1999 that addresses the problem of decoys.BOOST PHASE NMD WILL ALSO PROTECT ALL OF OUR ALLIES
Bruce Anderson January 15, 2001, The Independent (London) SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. 3 HEADLINE: WHY NOT SHELTER BENEATH AMERICA'S DEFENCE UMBRELLA? //VT2002acsln
Fortunately for us, the Americans could only protect themselves by protecting us. Under boost-phase NMD, any missile fired from a rogue state would have to be intercepted straightaway, before it was possible to identify the intended target.
BOOST PHASE INTERCEPTION IS BETTER THAN CURRENT PLANS FOR GROUND BASED INTERCEPTION
PAUL MANN Aviation Week and Space Technology July 5, 1999 ; Pg. 30 HEADLINE: Historic Turn Eyed In Missile Defense // lnu-acs
Boost-phase interception of enemy launchers is far preferable to ground-based NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE in Garwin's view, because it would obviate the need to intercept warheads. ''The task of a homing interceptor is a lot easier in boost phase because it sees the rocket plume rather than having to see the incoming warhead. And boost-phase is not confined just to the moment of lift-off; it typically extends four or five minutes for an ICBM, because the ICBM has three stages and it cannot travel as fast in the lower portions of the atmosphere.''
WE COULD DEPLOY AN AEGIS-BASED MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM ALMOST IMMEDIATELY
Linda Seebach DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS September 12, 1999, Pg. 2B HEADLINE: U.S. NEEDS MISSILE DEFENSE BEFORE ROGUE STATES ATTACK // ln-10/99-acs
Gaffney [Gaffney, who worked on arms control policy in the Reagan administration and now heads the Center for Security Policy ] believes the United States should deploy a missile defense as quickly as possible. He even has a plausible way to do it at modest cost - modest, at least, in comparison to rebuilding Los Angeles after a nuclear attack - adapt the Navy's AEGIS system of weapons control. AEGIS is already deployed on 65 ships that could launch high-altitude interceptors.