The missile defense system idea was started 1983 by the Reagan administration. The project's name was Strategic Defense Initiative. The plan purposed was labeled Star Wars. This plan was developed because of fear of the Soviet Union. It was feared that the soviets would use nuclear missiles to attack us. The Strategic Defense Initiative would start a counter attack against the country where missile was fired from at the United States. The Strategic Defense Initiative laid the groundwork for the National Missile Defense system.

There is the question of weather the United States should build a National Missile Defense system. The one issue that is important to the decision is the Anti-Ballisti

Lauria, Joe. "Allies chide US in Arms Treaties." Boston (MA) Boston Globe, The. 25 April 2000. In NEWSBANK: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. 31 October 2000. Online

The National Missile Defense system that could benefit the U.S. greatly, but are do the benefits out weigh the dangers. It is a very controversial issue whether you support it or not people need to respect it because if it is built it may change the way the world focus the weapons technology from offensive to defensive.

Mendelsohn, Jack. "MISSILE DEFENSE: And it still won't work." Vol. 55 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 1 May 2000. In ELIBRARY: Missile Defense System. 31 October 2000. Online

They are two proposed systems land and sea. The land system would put missiles in Alaska and North Dakota, where the sea system would place Navy ships out side of potential countries that could strike. Each system has its downfalls. The land system has two main problems. First the technology needs to be made more accurate and the second problem is the amount money required. The technology is not as accurate as it should be. In tests, the success rate of the missiles is only 22 percent, that is four out eighteen tests. The success rates are even worse for high altitude tests only 13 percent, that is two out of fifteen. The last ten consecutive test high altitudes have failed. Second, it is now excepted to cost well over fifty billion dollars. To build the purposed 250 missiles it would cost around 48.5 billion dollars and for the inferred early warning satellites, it would cost near 10.6 billion dollars. Many people do not see the need to spend the money on a system that has not proven it works. Many people with the failure in of the land system tests are starting to lean toward the sea defense. The sea has one big disadvantage and one advantage over the land system. The disadvantage to the sea defense system is that the missiles fired from the ships will not be able to stop all missiles. The miss

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)