Honolulu Star Advertiser:
Hawaii shouldn’t be held for “nuclear ransom” by North Korea and needs to activate its Aegis Ashore missile testing facility on Kauai in times of emergency to provide a layered missile shield for the isles, a defense expert told Hawaii state lawmakers Wednesday.
Riki Ellison, chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a nonprot group, briefed two committees on North Korea’s posture and U.S. missile defense. He later noted that the Aegis Ashore facility was put in place to test land-based missiles for Romania and Poland and the defense of Europe.
“We’re paying for these missiles. We built these missiles and now we’re sending them — after they are tested and proven right here in Hawaii” — to Europe, Ellison said.
That same defense doesn’t extend to Hawaii, he noted.
Ellison maintains that the $450 million Aegis Ashore installation…
