Dear Friends & Members,

As a nation we begin the new year with the recent 2006 defense bill signed by Congress and the President to ensure safety of our homeland, allies and troops overseas from ballistic missile attacks.

The 2006 Defense Bill provides a total of $7.8 billion out of $441.8 billion for ballistic missile defense and an amount less than 1.76% of this year’s defense budget. A small but necessary price to pay for our safety and economic stability.

Let us not forget the $84 billion dollars America lost in addition to the thousands of lives from the 911 attacks and the many lives in the Middle East that have been saved and deterred from ballistic missile attacks. We must also recognize that this small investment will deter and dissuade the future spending of billions of dollars around the world on offensive ballistic missiles and technology.

We as a nation must ask ourselves and our leaders how much insurance coverage will we get from spending less than 1.76% of our defense bill on missile defense? Will it be enough to protect, deter and dissuade today’s threats and future attacks from such nations as Iran and the proliferation of these weapons?

It is symbolic that in the beginning of this new year, one of our nation’s most advanced missile defense platforms (SBX) arrived in the foreground of the United States Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii— this reminds us of the cost of defending our homeland.