 March 16, 2013 – WASHINGTON - The United States will deploy 14 additional ground-based missile interceptors (GBIs) to combat the nuclear attack threats from North Korea and Iran, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said today during a press briefing. “The United States stands firm against aggression,” Hagel said. Hagel cited North Korea's recent test of a “rogue, mobile intercontinental ballistic missile” as a reason to beef up the United States' missile defense system. In addition to the GBIs, the United States will also add one more radar in Japan and is conducting environmental studies to determine the feasibility of another interceptor missile site. “The American people expect us to protect them,” Hagel said, adding that they also expect them to do it in a cost-effective manner. Hagel was asked if he was confident that the interceptor missiles could stop a nuclear weapon from striking the U.S. He said that before the 14 additional interceptors are deployed, the U.S. will do additional testing. However, he said, “the American people should be assured our interceptors are effective.” Hagel said they expect the interceptors to be deployed by 2017. Thirty of them are already deployed in California and Alaska. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is set to announce that the United States will beef up its missile defense system in response to nuclear attack threats from North Korea, Reuters, Fox and CNN are reporting quoting an unnamed “defense official.” As we've reported, this has been a week of “inflamed rhetoric from North Korea,” which has unilaterally scrapped the 1953 armistice that ended open warfare on the peninsula and threatened a preemptive nuclear strike on the U.S. “The bottom line is that we just don't know where Pyongyang's capabilities lie. These tests might represent lighter and smaller weapons. The North could be lying about that, but then again, maybe they aren't. As we think about our homeland missile-defense posture, we do not have a ‘just-in-time’ policy,” Miller said, according to the AP. "Our policy is to stay ahead of the threat — and to continue to ensure that we are ahead of any potential future Iranian or North Korean ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capability.” -NPR |
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/15/174421575/reports-in-response-to-north-korea-u-s-will-beef-up-missile-defenses
