National Missile Defense System: The First Step to Another Cold War As we begin the twenty-first century, an increasing number of states around the world are acquiring nuclear capabilities. The sense of insecurity by individual governments is driving many states into developing and testing ballistic missiles. In the mean time, the United States finds itself in a position to develop new technology that will protect themselves against these potential missile strikes. The development of a national anti-ballistic missile defense system has sparked many controversies around the United States. Advocates of the system argue that it is only a defensive measure, but they fail to see the consequences that would result in a missile defense deployment. Within the Department of Defense, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) is responsible for managing the Ballistic Missile Defense Program. One of its goals is to build a barrier against the emergence of long-range ballistic missile that threatens the United States by developing a National Missile Defense (NMD) System. The system is designed to track any incoming missiles once it is launched toward the U.S. with thermal imagery radars, and then destroy the missile with an interceptor before it reaches its target. The proposed plan consist of building a site based in Alaska with 100 interceptors that would protect all fifty states against any ballistic missiles attack. (Ballistic)One of the events that sparked the NMD System was the Rumsfeld Commission report in July of 1998. Named after the former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, a nine-member bipartisan commission reported that several states already have access to ballistic missiles while other “rogue states” will have the same technology within five years. The report also stated that the threat is greater than the intelligence community had initially thought, citing these “rogue states” will be acq...
