John Kerry: “in the early hours yesterday morning on the New Mexican desert, there was an event that brought home in a very practical…”

“in the early hours yesterday morning on the New Mexican desert, there was an event that brought home in a very practical way one of the series of considered arguments made against the legislation the Senate is considering this morning. The Army Missile Command, the prime contractor, and dozens of subcontractors had been painstakingly preparing for the fifth intercept test of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, theater missile defense system. No effort was spared in these preparations, because program officials and Department of Defense officials acknowledged openly that this would be widely viewed as a ``make or break'' test for the system following its unfortunate string of previous intercept failures. To the dismay of all involved, this fifth test, too, was a failure. Mr. President, we nominally are debating a different matter this morning. The bill before the Senate involves an immediate decision to abandon the so-called ``3 plus 3'' strategy for national missile defense and establish a policy to move as rapidly as possible not only to develop an effective national missile defense technology, but to deploy such a system at the earliest possible time. But the White Sands test yesterday morning should be hoisting another red flag for the Senate to consider as we vote on this bill. I take a back seat to no one in my support for development of effective missile defense technology.…”