Strategic Patience is the clear policy towards North Korea as outlaid by the actions of the President Trump Administration including Secretary of Defense James Mattis with his statement last week (link). Whether that Strategic Patience has an end game in fully completing U.S. Military preparation and readiness for resolution of the North Korea nuclear proliferation crisis that maybe a year or two away, a diplomatic solution with China or winning an economic attrition of North Korea to force denuclearization, Ballistic Missile Defense in increased capacity to the Region and to the United States is absolutely critical for these flexible options to take place. With the global community watching the North Korean escalation and as the Republic of Korea hosts the Olympics on the Korean Peninsula, February 9th Through the 25th of 2018, strategic patience in dealing with North Korea is paramount for strategic stability and safety of the region and to the United States.
President Trump and the United States Congress have taken due notice, acted upon it and came together last night to exponentially increase Missile Defense capacity for our nation and our troops forward deployed by $4.7 Billion, a 57% increase from last year’s budget to 2018’s budget allocation.
The United States President and Congress have approved a continuing resolution (C.R.) which means the government will operate on the same budget from the previous year, in this case the FY 2017 budget, which is approximately $8.2 billion for missile defense. In addition, this C.R. added an extra $4.7 billion towards missile defense that includes repairing the Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships damaged this year. This funding allows and enables MDA to increase the current capacity of the U.S. missile defense arsenal. The C.R. includes approximately $2.4 billion for additional missile defense procurement that adds to the MDA budget bringing close to a $4.5 billion for increasing missile defense capacity. The C.R. also funds additional $1.3 billion for missile defense research and development across the military services as well as $43 million for missile defense operations and maintenance for missile defense systems. In addition, the C.R. puts forward $200 million for the construction of a new additional missile interceptor field in Fort Greely, Alaska for up to 28 new GBIs.
This 2018 increase to total $12.9 billion dollars, is 2.2% of the DOD budget increasing from last year’s 1.4% of $8.2 billion of the DOD budget for missile defense. It marks the highest amount of funding for Missile Defense since the building of the Safeguard system of the 1970s (link) and has finally broken through the sought after over 2% of the DOD budget . With an increased amount of funding for Missile Defense it is critical to balance MDA’s procurement with its charter of research and development to stay ahead of the ballistic missile threats around the world.
As we break for the holidays and Christmas, we are rest assured that our Government has responded well in addressing the North Korean nuclear ballistic missile proliferation to enable Strategic Patience, Strategic Stability by increasing our Ballistic Missile Defense capacity and systems to better defend our population, our forward deployed forces and our Allies.
We wish all Peace on Earth,
