Rob Andrews: “I also wanted to make reference to the excellent work that's been done in this bill in the area of our missile defense…”

“I also wanted to make reference to the excellent work that's been done in this bill in the area of our missile defense program. Now, there are obviously disagreements over what the structure of that program ought to be; but when one looks at the fortification of defenses that we already have at Fort Greely and other places, when one looks at the additional investment that we are making in the successful regional-range missile programs that have tested and been quite efficient, I think that the accurate conclusion is that we are fortifying the defenses which have been proven to work in the missile defense field, we are building upon those successes, and we are preparing ourselves for a future generation of defenses that are effective both in a regional context and in the context of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The nonproliferation strategy really has two aspects: it is to be prepared to defend ourselves if a strike occurs, but it is to discourage the proliferation of nuclear capability around the world, as the administration has done in the Security Council negotiations with Iran and it has done with its layered defense missile strategy.”