Dear Members and Friends,

Yesterday on the Fourth of July, our country’s 230th birthday, North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles of all ranges against the stern and repeated warnings from our country, Japan and the international community. This defiant act of aggression and show of force was not dissuaded nor deterred by diplomacy, international pressure or, most importantly the threat of the world’s strongest military power of preemptive or retaliatory action. This situation, without a doubt, requires that our country-and the world- to deploy, develop and put forward missile defense systems with urgency.

Our citizens and soldiers in South Korea and Japan, and our allies representing millions of innocent civilians in the Republic of South Korea and Japan are fortunate that these multiple missile tests failed, most notably the Taepongdong-2. The Taepodong-2 disintegrated shortly after launch which could have been caused by the extended period of time the missile stood on the launch pad prior to lift-off. Holding a liquid fueled missile over a period of 72 hours causes chemical deterioration within the missile and rocket motors. The North Korean Taepodong-2 was in a holding position for over three weeks.

This drastic and unfortunate action by the North Koreans sets forth a national priority to put in place more ground-and sea-based defensive missiles of which our country has a very small number developed and an even smaller number deployed. We, as a nation, are pleased that our early warning sensors were effective in determining the launches, their direction and success or failure.

We, as a world, cannot afford or accept the loss of life caused by a ballistic missile fired by an irresponsible and irrational leader simply because we do not have missile defense.

As our forefathers who created this country clearly stated; “Don’t Tread on Me�?.