ary.United States feels vulnerable and does not trust the other states, so it arms itself.Continual of National Missile Defense Other states do not trust the United States, so it arms itself just in case.Both states did not trust one another, so they both armed themselves, resulting in a new arms race.Figure 1Another event that triggered prompt attention were missile testing conducted by China, Iran, and North Korea. In 1996, China conducted missile tests by launching ballistic missiles toward Taiwan. Iran has also conducted its own long-range missile test with their Shahab-3 ballistic missile that has a range of eight hundred miles. (Cohens)But perhaps the state that the United States worries about the most is North Korea. Since the end of the Cold War, North Korea has remained aggressive toward the U.S. by taking hostile actions. For example, the North Korean army maintains a million soldiers in their armed forces that continues to threaten their South Korean neighbor plus the 37,000 U.S. soldiers stationed there. North Korea has also been attaining nuclear technology while purchasing missile components from China. The most alarming sign is North Korean’s testing of their medium-range Taepo Dong-1 missile that has a maximum range of 1000 kilometers. But the United States is most concerned about the North Korean’s development of the inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology with its current testing of the long-range Taepo Dong-2 missile. (Pike)Capital Hill and Pentagon officials use these potential threats by these “rogue states” to fuel their argument to deploy the NMD system. The alarm of a Scud missile cutting through America’s airspace is enough to persuade many non-believers into supporting the NMD system.Upon closer examination, despite these signs of potential aggression by some states, the realistic threat remains unlikely and non-credible to the United States and the internati...
