Dear Members and Friends,
Our nation’s future missile defense systems require steadfast focus on Iran, its continual deployment and development of ballistic missiles, its space launch program, its nuclear program and the proliferation of their technologies to the greater Middle East and beyond. There has yet to be a stoppage, a pause, a redirection or a reduction in any one of these Iranian major national initiatives despite the 30 years of international sanctions and diplomatic efforts. The tremendous financial and human investment that the Iranian government has put forward gives little logical reason that Iran will cease these efforts for a diplomatic solution in a world they see themselves threatened by. We as an international community would hope that this would not be the case and it could be resolved with simplicity, trust and openness. In that vein, we wish Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama the best of intentions, fortitude, luck and success.
To devalue Iranian perception of power and its projection of military power world-wide, is to simply and cost effectively render its strategic and regional ballistic missile forces useless in a non-aggressive manner. This would increase the likeliness that President Obama’s foreign policy agenda towards Iran would succeed and would provide the region with much needed stability. Deploying a layered robust missile defense system provides strategic and regional security to the multitude of international countries, including our armed forces deployed in Europe and the Middle East, that could be threatened by Iran. A deployed multilayered missile defense system thus provides another option for these international countries rather than developing a deterrent force that could include nuclear weapons or using preemptive military action. For US allies combining deployed layered missile defenses with US military forces provides “extended deterrence” to those countries in the region. This concept of “extended deterrence” with missile defense is working successfully today in the Far East.
Today, the United States does not have a deployed, operational, multilayered integrated robust missile defense system to defend and protect the United States, its armed forces and its allies from Iran.
On behalf of our nation and to make our world a safer place, we ask President Obama, National Security Advisor General Jones, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates and the Members of the United States Congress to provide funding and support for the development and deployment of a robust missile defense system to defend and protect the United States and our allies from Iran.
