"Placing one of these sites in Poland remains an option...." [9]
Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy also testified before the committee and echoing previous statements by Robert Gates and others said, "This is not about Russia. It's never been about Russia." She added, "the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was 'very supportive.'"
Flournoy touted the role of SM-3s for use on board ships and on land alike, stating "This means greater geographic flexibility, greater survivability and greater scalability in response to an evolving threat. That's exactly what we mean by a phased, adaptive approach." [10]
O'Reilly concurred, hailing the interceptor missile as "a very capable weapon due to its high acceleration, burn velocity and its proven track record" which provides an "ability to rapidly increase to over 80 interceptors at any one launch site." [11]
Flournoy, O'Reilly and other panelists, including Marine General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "provided several advantages of the new system. It would begin protecting European allies in 2011, roughly six years sooner than the old system, and its missiles, costing $10 million each, are much cheaper than those planned for the old system, which cost about $70 million." [12]
On September 25 a column appeared in the Washington Post titled "Reagan's Missile Defense Triumph" by Andrew Nagorski, vice president and director of public policy at the EastWest Institute in New York.
The feature celebrates U.S. global missile shield plans, particularly the innovations announced during the past ten days, as a realization of former President Ronald Reagan's infamous Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars.
The author wrote that "on a...fundamental level...Reagan would recognize that the announcement represents a watershed moment in American politics. It signals that, for the first time since Reagan made his 'Star Wars' speech in 1983 spelling out his vision of a missile shield...both political parties have accepted his notion that the country needs an effective missile defense system. The debate is no longer focused on whether to build such a system but on what kind of system will do the better job...." [13]
Further endorsing the new system and exposing claims that it represents either a retreat from the scope of the earlier version or a concession to Russia, the writer added:
"[T]he president has argued that his plan will produce 'stronger, smarter, swifter' missile defense than the Bush alternative. In other words, the Obama administration's line, as spelled out by the president, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others, is unambiguous when it comes to embracing missile defense as a necessary component of the U.S. arsenal." [14]
A pro-missile defense analyst based in Central Asia recently expressed a similar perspective, writing that "The US policy reversal has...come as a result of the considerable progress made by the Pentagon in missile technology, especially in technical improvements to systems using interceptors, land, sea, air and space-based sensors."
He also provided an insight into the true purpose of the U.S.-led global missile interception system:
"[A]n anti-missile shield on Poland's and the Czech Republic's territories - and anti-missile radars on Georgia's territory - would have decreased the nuclear capabilities of those countries already possessing nuclear weapons. The Pentagon's goal was precisely to downgrade the nuclear potentials of individual countries....
"It was clear that Washington's proposal for building an anti-missile system in Europe was intended to be the last nail in the coffin of the ABM Treaty and bring Russia to its knees in the military sector." [15]
A Russian analyst, Viktoria Panova, recently wrote something to the same effect, comparing the current American missile subterfuge to the period of the genesis of missile shield plans, that of the Reagan and first Bush era:
"America can push Russia either on Iran or another issue of concern, so it's very similar to what it was during the last days of the Soviet Union when America was playing with the ABM system being developed.
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