Alaska's Strategic Role in the Defense of the United States and the Vital Role of Missile Defense July 22, 2009

Host: The Heritage Foundation.
Contrary to common perception, the U.S. government has been researching and developing missile defense systems for more than 60 years. The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union brought America’s deployment to a halt. It was not until President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative speech in 1983 that the concept became a household term. Since 2002, the United States has been vigorously developing, testing and deploying missile defense technology. In the past six years, the military has run 34 hit-to-kill interceptor tests, almost all of them successful.

Now, in the face of a belligerent North Korea and an increasingly isolated Iran, the funding for the Strategic Missile Defense Initiative is slated to be cut by $1.4 billion. Recent events should serve as a reminder that the world is changing from its Cold War structure in the need to defend Americans and our allies from these growing missile threats.

Official Website: http://www.heritage.org/press/events/ev072209b.cfm