Wayne Allard: “I will respond to the concerns that were raised by the sponsor of the amendment about what he referred to as ``loose…”

“I will respond to the concerns that were raised by the sponsor of the amendment about what he referred to as ``loose nukes,'' and from that same report which he quoted, I would point out that in the report it says the probability that a weapons of mass destruction armed missile will be used against U.S. forces or interests is higher today than during most of the cold war. This is a real threat, and we should not be saying we have a higher priority on homeland defense or a higher priority on missiles. The fact is we are vulnerable in all areas. We need to address that, and we have been adequately addressing it with our funding for homeland security. Now we need to take care of missile defense and make sure we have adequately taken care of the threat with weapons of mass destruction through missiles that might be launched. In response to a hearing we had earlier on the need for a missile defense test bed, I will share with my colleagues some testimony by Admiral Ellis, who is the commander of STRATCOM. I asked Admiral Ellis: Do you support the use of the missile defense test bed to provide limited operational capability, yes or no? Admiral Ellis replies: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Then I asked him a further question: Does such a capability contribute to deterrence? Admiral Ellis says: Absolutely. Then I responded back: Does such a capability provide a useful strategic option? Admiral Ellis says: Yes, it does.…”