Byron Dorgan: “A national missile defense sounds perfectly plausible to a good many people. In fact, we have colleagues in this Chamber…”

“A national missile defense sounds perfectly plausible to a good many people. In fact, we have colleagues in this Chamber who believe very strongly that we ought to begin deploying a national missile defense immediately, despite the fact, of course, that we don't have a national missile defense that works. The last time we did a test of the system was last summer. In that test, we sent up a missile with a target warhead. We knew what the target was, we knew where it was going to be, and we knew when it was going to be there. Despite that, we could not hit it with our interceptor. These are very simple, rudimentary tests, and we have not been able to demonstrate through those tests that we have a national missile defense system that works. Some say: Well, but shouldn't we have a national missile defense system in the event that someone launches missiles at this country? What they need to understand is that the national missile defense program that is being discussed by the administration, and that was discussed by past administrations, is not a national missile defense program that would safeguard this country against, for example, a nuclear missile attack by Russia or China.”