National Missile Defense
Recently, President Clinton signed into law the National Missile Defense Act of 1999. What is a national missile defense (NMD)? A NMD is in theory “a technological shield that could destroy all incoming missiles” (Cirincione and Von Hippel 1). A NMD would most likely employ ground-based missiles that would intercept and destroy incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). ICBMs are missiles that are capable of hitting targets thousands of miles away from their launch site. The National Missile Defense Act “calls for developing a missile-defense system that could protect the United States from an attack by a handful of nuclear armed ballistic missiles” (Ballistic Missile Defenses). It is important to realize the proposed NMD would not be designed to protect against an all out nuclear attack featuring hundreds of missiles. President Clinton is expected to make a decision on whether or not to deploy a NMD as early as June of 2000. Is a NMD a good thing for the United States? I believe the United States should not develop and deploy a NMD system. The many proponents of a NMD such as President Clinton, Congress, and various military officials have devised a number of reasons why a NMD is needed. According to M
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Russia China, ABM Treaty, Graig George, Chat Edwards, Race Stability, Program Mendolsohn, United States—would, Congress President, ICBM United, American Public, missile defense, ballistic missile, abm treaty, nov 1999, von hippel, nov 1999 available, arms control, proposed nmd, russia china, deploy nmd, 1999 available, pag online internet, ballistic missile defense, online internet 2, nuclear dangers 1999,
Approximate Word count = 2447
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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