Counter Measures

Counter Measures:  National Missile Defense (NMD) is once again a
growing concern in America. There have been many new developments since the
post-Cold War elimination of nuclear warfare. This diminishing of arms however,
is a very fine line. The United States cannot afford to have less capability
then the rest of the world, but it does want to encourage unilateral
non-proliferation of nuclear arms.

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[Category]:

social issue

[Paper Title]:

Counter Measures

[Text]:

National Missile Defense (NMD) is once again a growing concern in America.
There have been many new developments since the post-Cold War elimination of
nuclear warfare. This diminishing of arms however, is a very fine line. The
United States cannot afford to have less capability then the rest of the world,
but it does want to encourage unilateral non-proliferation of nuclear arms. In
addition, there is a new awareness of “rogue” nations that are completely
unpredictable. Since the post-Cold War the United States has been able to rely
on the major nations and more or less predict if they are a threatening
adversary or not. In any case, this doubt has caused the new investigation of a
possible deployment of a National Missile Defense. This movement is a huge
strategic, technical, and political decision. The consequences of such a
decision will indeed effect the next generations. In the recent decades many
treaties have come to rise, all of which have played an important part in the
growing concern of nuclear arms and the defense of American soil.

History

The history of ballistic missile defense is much involved and began shortly
after World War II. In the 1950’s the Soviet Union was able to deploy
submarine-based missiles capable of hitting the United States. In the 1960’s
this same arsenal appeared and expanded rapidly to land based systems. These
moves by the Soviet Union spurred a huge need for ballistic missile defense
programs in the U.S. In 1972 President Nixon and General Secretary Brezhnev
signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. This forbids a nationwide
missile defense between the United States and Russia. The treaty called for each
country to build two sites that could attempt to protect limited areas. In 1974,
it was amended allowing for:

· Each may only have on missile defense deployment site with that site
prohibited from providing a nationwide missile defense system or becoming the
basis for developing one

· At the allowed site, no more than 100 launchers/missiles may be deployed
and guidance radars must be within a circle with a diameter of 150 kilometers

· New early warning radars may only be deployed on the periphery of national
territory and oriented outward

· Non-nationwide missile defense systems may not be given nationwide
capability or tested in a nationwide mode

· The transfer of missile defense components to and deployment in foreign
countries is prohibited

· Development, testing, or deployment of sea-based, air-based, mobile
land-based, or space-based missile defense systems and their components is
prohibited

During the Cold War, this treaty proved effective because both nations
understood that a building of missile defense encourages offensive force. As
long as the capability of defending oneself against nuclear attack was
preserved, each would be deterred from attacking the other. Limited national
defense programs such as President Johnson’s “Sentinel” system followed
the previous Presidential systems of the “Nike X” and “Nike Zeus”
programs. All of these were redesigned by Nixon’s “Safeguard” initiative.
On October 1, 1975, the Safeg

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