The Hill:
The understandable concerns about renewed terrorist violence in the United States should not obscure the imperative of defending the homeland against higher-end threats such as missile attacks. Adverse international security developments are worsening these threats. In response, Congress needs to work with the Pentagon to strengthen currently available defenses while developing superior future technologies.
China and Russia have many long-range missiles targeting the United States, but the probability of their launching them is remote. Notwithstanding their disturbingly assertive policies in recent years, neither country’s leaders are suicidal. If they attack us, the United States could destroy them.
A more serious problem is that China and Russia have transferred missile systems and other dangerous technologies to countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea that might prove less reluctant to threaten the United States. Setting aside legitimate doubts about how effectively threats of retaliation could deter these governments, these regional troublemakers rationally want asymmetric technologies like missiles to compensate for their much weaker conventional military capabilities.
Some of these transfers may have occurred without the approval, or even knowledge, of the national governments of China and Russia. Entrepreneurial Chinese and Russian groups have evinced a disturbing eagerness to sell any client, no matter how odious, the most dangerous items.
At another level, however, both Beijing and Moscow want to weaken the United States by proliferating so-called anti-access/area-denial weapons, such as missiles and mines, that states threatening U.S. interests could use to deter U.S. countermoves. That is one reason why China and Russia are so hostile to the U.S. ballistic missile defenses (BMD) supporting America’s friends and allies in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. By negating missile threats, BMD systems enhance the U.S. ability to counter regional aggression.
Although Iranian leaders have recently moderated their tone to secure relief from international sanctions, they still insist on their right to develop better missiles that could strike Israel, Europe, and, if possible, the United States. If Tehran again cheats on its pledges not to seek nuclear weapons, Iran could arm these missiles with nuclear warheads.
