New York Times on the Web Forums Science

Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

bluestar23 - 01:33pm Oct 28, 2003 EST (# 15792 of 15799)

Showalter's "product" has declined significantly from its usual Niagara in the last few days.....he's even been overtaken clearly by "World Asset" in postings.....is he confused, feeling "under pressure"...? It's starting to look like it...

jorian319 - 01:52pm Oct 28, 2003 EST (# 15793 of 15799)
The earth spin rate is slowing 2 msc/day as evidenced by the additon of a leap second every 500 days - James "I failed math" Nienhuis

Oh, the killing pressure!

Imagine - a handful of complete strangers, any one (or more) of whom might be the President of The United States or Someone Very Close to Him, asking in unison for some kind of clarification/purpose/direction/result/meaning to be associated with his unending volumes of screed.

Unbearable, I tell you!

On the MD front...

I'd be inclined to say "not one more dime", except that we've already been unwittingly ferried across some rubicons. Now we need to make the most of what promises to be a boondoggle of epic proportion. The hoped-for result would be that no missile attack is ever launched against the US. Of course, that means that the system itself might as well have been made out of cardboard cutouts, unless there is some beneficial techno trickledown to the consumer level. The secondary hope would be that in the event of an attack, all incoming live warheads would be destroyed prior to detonation. The tertiary hope would be that most would be destroyed.

In #3 of the above scenarios, NMD or no NMD, the nation of origin of the incoming missiles will certainly experience a sudden change in climate - mushroom clouds likely, etc. Millions will die, here and "abroad".

In scenario #2, they can expect new leadership to be imposed in short order, by whatever means necessary.

In scenario #1 we all live happily ever after, no need for NMD.

So only in the event that we ARE attacked, and the system works PERFECTLY, is NMD itself any greater deterrent than simple retaliatory capability. I ain't convinced.

bluestar23 - 01:54pm Oct 28, 2003 EST (# 15794 of 15799)

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, October 19, 2003

President Bush's drive to enlist foreign help in building a missile defense network has begun to attract foreign businesses but is being hampered by tight U.S. controls on technology sharing, according to American and European officials.

The controls, designed two decades ago to limit missile proliferation, make no distinction between offensive and defensive technologies. As a result, U.S. and foreign firms eager to enter detailed talks complain of being caught in the same net meant to keep U.S. technical know-how out of the hands of terrorists or nations hostile to the United States.

Bush ordered an interagency review of the controls, known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, in a presidential directive last December. But the review is months behind schedule and fraught with disagreements over how to carve out exceptions for missile defense technology.

bluestar23 - 01:55pm Oct 28, 2003 EST (# 15795 of 15799)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/specials/nationalsecurity/nationalmissiledefense/

link...

bluestar23 - 02:04pm Oct 28, 2003 EST (# 15796 of 15799)

Jorian:

"Imagine - a handful of complete strangers, any one (or more) of whom might be the President of The United States or Someone Very Close to Him, asking in unison for some kind of clarification/purpose/direction/result/meaning to be associated with his unending volumes of screed."

Ha!...yup, pretty shocking and fearsome....the President forced to put down the "Hot Line" to Russia..."it's Showalter, quick, pick up the phone..." ...perhaps Condi R. could "mediate" between the President Bush, Mr. Showalter and Punch Sulzberger....

bluestar23 - 02:07pm Oct 28, 2003 EST (# 15797 of 15799)

Jorian:

"unless there is some beneficial techno trickledown to the consumer level."

You may have noticed in the article I posted yesterday that the IR seeker technology being developed is also a breakthrough technology in medical imaging....

(2 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense