A Wall Worth Having
From a national security standpoint, America has been blessed. We have never been invaded, mostly because we are almost totally surrounded by large bodies of water and Canada. In the 21st century, our geography offers less protection than it used to. Our current national security threats are cyber warfare (including the vulnerability of our communications satellites), terrorism and intercontinental missiles. We appear to be doing some effective work addressing the first two threats, not so much the third.
In my view, we should be engaged in a crash program to develop an effective anti-missile defense to protect our homeland from a devastating attack that would kill millions and sicken millions more. That idea has received short shift from the left side of our political spectrum ever since Ronald Reagan proposed it, for reasons that entirely escape me. Why would we want to leave ourselves exposed to nuclear holocaust and the blackmail potential inherent in the threat thereof? That question is even more relevant in an age when the technological capability exists to eliminate those threats.
In descending order of probability, I see the threats coming from North Korea, Iran, Pakistan (if militants take over), Russia and China. Our ability to deal with the troublesome behavior of each and every one of these actors would be greatly enhanced by taking the missile option off the table. We should conclusively demonstrate that we could shoot down anything they shot at us.
Historically, many weapons developed in peacetime do not work very well when the shooting starts. Picture the plight of incredibly brave sailors who exposed themselves to a watery grave by firing torpedoes at Japanese ships that failed to detonate. Some of the wretched torpedoes even ran in circles endangering the sub that fired them. War is the great innovator of weapons systems on the fly. The problem with missile war is there won’t be any time available to innovate. In this case, there is a solution to the problem.
We have available the perfect missile defense partner . . . Israel. The scumbags in Gaza (soon to be joined by those in Lebanon) are shooting missiles at Israel on a regular basis. Iron Dome is effectively shooting a lot of them down. We therefore have a laboratory in which to combat test anti-missile systems in concert with the Israelis.
In order to be effective, the defensive system has to be automatically triggered — activated instantly when a missile goes up — because there is no time to spare. A drone with a small missile could do the job. Since any launch produces a huge heat signature, it is easy to find. Since the missile’s rocket booster is full of incredibly volatile fuel, a small triggering explosion will cause a major explosion. We also need to emphasize destruction in the boost phase. That is the time when, due to the pull of gravity, the missile is traveling at the slowest speed. Once a rocket boosts the payload out of the atmosphere, it speeds up dramatically, and can spread multiple reentry vehicles that render defense infinitely more difficult. If we do it correctly, any atomic weapon launched at us will end up falling back on the country that launched it. There is poetic justice in that outcome.
It is fair to point out that we can’t have a system that destroys rockets launching satellites in all of the countries I’ve mentioned. We could easily set up a regime requiring prior notice and UN inspection for any proposed peaceful use of an ICBM capable booster rocket.
The number one job of any national government is the physical protection of its citizens from threats foreign and domestic. Time we got on with it.
