Washington Post:
President Trump reportedly told his Filipino counterpart that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a “madman with nuclear weapons.” As Kim gets closer to having the missiles to deliver those weapons, Congress is launching a new push to dramatically expand missile defense inside the United States.
“It’s no longer a matter of if but when North Korea will have the capability to hit the United States with an intercontinental nuclear ballistic missile. That should startle people,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) told me.
Sullivan led a bipartisan effort this week to introduce new legislation that would call on the Trump administration to increase investments in almost everything the United States is currently building for missile defense.
Expanding missile defense has long been a priority of some lawmakers, especially those whose states are closest to the threat and would also benefit from the investments in new infrastructure. But if what Trump says is true, and Kim is an irrational actor who can’t be deterred, that’s a new reason to build more now, Sullivan said.
“It’s an insurance policy in the event he wants to go out in a blaze of glory,” he said. “It would be the height of irresponsibility if we saw this coming and did not take action to guard against it.”
The president’s budget request for fiscal 2018, released Tuesday, doesn’t provide funding for the massive expansion of infrastructure that Sullivan’s bill would authorize. The Missile Defense Agency is requesting $7.9 billion next year, $379 million more than in fiscal 2017…
