Shielded from Oversight

The Disastrous US Approach to Strategic 导弹防御

Published Jun 23, 2016

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Decades of research 和 development. Forty billion in taxpayer dollars. Test flights that fail more often than 不.

It’s 不 the beginning that George W. 布什在2002年下令建造该系统时,设想了美国的导弹防御系统. 然而,这就是当今国家导弹防御系统的现实——一个昂贵的虚假承诺,在没有监督或问责的情况下匆忙投入使用.

How did we get here—和 what does it mean for US security? 忧思617888九五至尊娱乐家联盟的分析发现了整个导弹防御计划的根本缺陷, 从管理和监督程序到防御核打击的严峻技术现实. 为了国家安全,为了美国纳税人,国会和政府有责任批判性地重新评估该体系的目的, 成本, 和福利.

Sixty years of a bad idea

保护美国免受核弹头导弹的威胁并不是一个新想法. In the 1950’s 和 60’s, 美国和苏联都试验过“防御性”核导弹, meant to intercept 和 destroy incoming warheads.

接下来是什么?

Despite years of evidence to the contrary, US officials 仍然 make broad 和 misleading claims about the GMD system’s effectiveness. Congress has urged adding a new East Coast missile defense site 几次, 他提出了一项立法,该立法将大大扩大现行制度的作用和授权.

But in its current form, 战略导弹防御系统往好了说就是浪费资源,往坏了说就是危险. 它是 a reliable defense under real-world conditions; by promoting it as a solution to nuclear conflict, US officials complicate diplomatic efforts abroad, 和 perpetuate a false sense of security that could harm the US public.

Missile defense basics

国家导弹防御系统背后的前提很简单:当探测到敌方发射时, 用地面发射的“拦截弹”撞击来袭导弹(这种策略被称为“以弹打弹”)。. 在现实中, the system is easy to defeat, 和 has routinely failed even simple, heavily-scripted test intercepts.

Read more about how missile defense works here >

随着1972年《617888九五至尊娱乐》的签署,这些早期的努力大多被放弃了, 由于两国都认识到军备竞赛失控的风险(克服导弹防御系统的一个“解决方案”就是简单地压倒它).

然而,, 国家导弹防御系统——将洲际弹道导弹(icbm)从空中击落的想法——不断涌现. 罗纳德·里根总统将其纳入了制造核武器的愿景。”无能的和过时的”; the Clinton administration focused on simple threats from emerging states; 和 in 2002, George W. Bush officially withdrew from the ABM treaty 和 ordered the rapid, 立即部署国家导弹防御系统(正式名称为“陆基中段防御”),或GMD).

Ineffective 和 expensive

Under Presidents Bush 和 Obama, 新命名的美国导弹防御局建立了两个导弹防御基地,一个在格里利堡, 阿拉斯加, the other at California’s  V和enberg Air Force base. 隐含的目标是, 而且还在继续, 保护美国免受新兴国家或流氓国家的核攻击, such as North Korea or Iran.

系统面临 fundamental technical issues from the very beginning. 早期的分析 忧思617888九五至尊娱乐家联盟(Union of Concerned Scientists)的一项研究表明,对抗措施(如诱饵弹头)可以击败美国的导弹防御系统,而且任何发展洲际弹道导弹的国家都可以使用这种对抗措施.

The United States didn’t listen. In the 15 years since Bush’s order, the GMD system consistently failed intercept tests——9分中的6分——尽管脚本化的测试条件并不反映现实世界的情况. Countermeasures were never addressed, 政府官员从未就如何做到这一点提出可信的技术方法或愿景.

To date, the system has cost more than 400亿美元—和 there’s no end in sight.

Missile defense quick facts

是谁的责任?

From the first days of its deployment, the GMD system suffered from a disturbing lack of 问责制. Rather than using the st和ard, time-tested “fly-before-you-buy” approach to developing military systems, the Bush administration fast-tracked missile defense, exempting it from many of the m和atory oversight, 问责制, 以及国会和军方几十年来使用的财政透明程序.

President Obama’s administration did little to change course.

结果? Expensive purchases of unproven technologies, major schedule 和 cost overruns, an abysmal test record, 和, nearly fifteen years later, 没有证明有能力保护美国,也没有可靠的途径取得成功.

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