Statement of The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Honorable Paul C. Kaminski, Before a Joint Session of the Subcommittee on Military Research & Development and the Subcommittee on Military Procurement of the House Committee on National Security on Ballistic Missile Defense.
Abstract
This report discusses the Department of defense's Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program. For all of our adult lives, most Americans have lived with a dark cloud hanging over our heads--the horrific threat of a nuclear war that would end our way of life and civilization as we know it. Now, with the end of the Cold War, that dark cloud is beginning to drift away. The whole world is breathing a little easier. But that cloud is not yet gone. The world's nuclear powers still hold thousands of nuclear weapons, along with many hundreds of missiles to deliver them. And many other countries, some of them rogue nations to which the calculus of deterrence may not apply in the same way, are acquiring the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction--nuclear, biological, and chemical. Many of these nations have obtained ballistic missiles--short range ballistic missiles--and some are in the process of acquiring longer range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. The proliferation of short-range ballistic missiles in the world today poses a direct, immediate threat to many of our allies and to some U.S. forces deployed abroad in defense of our national interests.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 27, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA323175
Entities
Organizations
- Office Of The Under Secretary Of Defense