RealClear Defense

We are staring at a critical gap in our nation’s missile defense. Although not everyone understands or even sees it, our adversaries’ capabilities progress unabated. Next-generation threats are imminent, but our planned response is years away. How we address this in the interim is critical to our national security.

It was the Spartans and King Leonidas that responded when the Greeks were facing a gap in their security. King Leonidas is well known by historians, but for most of us, his accomplishments are buried in our DVD collection. The 2007 movie, 300, depicts King Leonidas and his Spartan warriors filling in the military gap between the Greek city-states and the massive Persian Army in 480 B.C.

Historically known as the Battle of Thermopylae, the movie dramatically depicts ripped Spartan warriors slashing back thousands of invading Persian warriors long enough for the remainder of Greece to rally their soldiers to eventually defeat the Persian armies. Although the film’s writers and producers take dramatic license, it is based on historical events of the Spartans filling the gap.

Like the call the Spartans responded to centuries ago, so too must we fill the gap to protect America without sacrificing our best. Over the last 20 years, our Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has effectively provided protection from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) through the most sophisticated multilayered ballistic missile defense capabilities known to man. Now, next-generation foreign threats are creating near term vulnerability, the gap if you will, that challenges our defensive capabilities.

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