On Thursday, June 16 Frank A. Rose the Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Spoke in Berlin Germany on the Purpose of U.S. Missile Defense.
The United States views our missile defense programs as a hedge against the ballistic missile threats we face now and those threats that unfortunately will confront us, and our allies and partners, in the future. The 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review makes clear that U.S. missile defenses are focused on defending against limited missile threats to the U.S. homeland, and regional missile threats to our deployed forces, allies and partners throughout the world. The development of ballistic missiles by countries like Iran and North Korea, and the proliferation of these systems around the world, is what drives our threat assessment.
Missile defenses support a number of defense strategic goals. Ballistic missile defenses help support U.S. security commitments to allies and partners. They provide reassurance that the United States will stand by those commitments despite the growth in the military potential of regional adversaries. Missile defenses also aid the United States in maintaining military freedom of maneuver by helping to negate the coercive potential of regional actors’ intent on inhibiting and disrupting U.S. military access in their regions.
Missile defenses are an essential element of the U.S. commitment to strengthen regional deterrence architectures against states acquiring nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in contravention of international norms, and in defiance of the international community.
