by Rod D. Martin
August 14, 2000
Much has been said about last week's decision by the Clinton Administration to (yet again) put off deployment of a missile defense.
Perhaps the most pertinent comment is the one reprinted below:
". . . The clearest case of the failure of the present Administration to provide for the common defense is its stubborn refusal to build any anti-missile system which can protect America from a [Russian] nuclear attack.
"For three years, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have unanimously and urgently recommended the building of an anti-missile system. For at least three years, the [Russians] have been deploying their own anti-missile defense. Yet the [Administration] gagged the Joint Chiefs and refused to permit the United States to erect any defenses against a missile attack. Finally, in the face of Congressional demands for an anti-missile system, [the Secretary of Defense] reluctantly agreed. . . to make a start on a 'thin' anti-missile system [designed to] protect us on…
