After eight years of an Administration that seemed impervious to public opinion, what a new era we are in. Over the past three months, Council supporters and advocates sent more than 10,000 letters to elected officials, urging them to oppose wasteful and ineffective missile defense programs, including the proposed “third missile defense site” in Europe.
Last week, the White House announced its intention to reconfigure U.S. missile defense policy in Europe – a move which smartly includes scrapping the missile interceptors in Poland and the accompanying radar in the Czech Republic.
This shift in policy was prompted by a request by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense that the President revise the previous missile defense plan – a request aimed to align missile defense policy with immediate security threats, rather than long-range missile threats from Iran that do not currently exist.
According to Council ED John Isaacs, ““The decision to revamp the missile defense plan in Europe is based on technological reality rather than rigid ideology…The Obama administration’s proposal is a better choice for U.S. and European security.”
For more on the political context of this announcement, click here for an analysis by Military Policy Analyst Travis Sharp.
