Byron Dorgan: “I would say to the Senator, a much greater threat than an ICBM from North Korea is the likelihood that some rogue…”

“I would say to the Senator, a much greater threat than an ICBM from North Korea is the likelihood that some rogue country will get a hold of an air-launched cruise missile from an air platform not too far offshore, or a sea-launched cruise missile, or a ground-launched cruise missile. That would be a far more likely delivery vehicle to get. The national missile defense system is not going to shoot down cruise missiles. In any event, we should debate this question of what is an adequate defense for this country, what are the threats, and what do we do to prepare to meet those threats. I do not disagree at all with the contention of the Senator that we should have such a debate. The difficulty I have is there seems to be a tendency for some to embrace the biggest, most expensive, and broadest possible defense program to respond to a threat. There are many threats to this country, and I think the Senator from Oklahoma and others do a service when they raise on the floor of the Senate a whole series of defense issues and do it in a thoughtful and persuasive way. It is also helpful for others of us who switch roles sometimes and say, 'Wait a second, who are the big spenders now? Where are you going to get all this money?'.”