Ron Kind: “I think as far as the two initial questions that I have, there are some huge question marks in regards to how expensive…”

“I think as far as the two initial questions that I have, there are some huge question marks in regards to how expensive this is going to be, whether or not we can in fact deploy a system that is going to work but, finally, is this going to make us more or less secure in the final analysis? My friend from Massachusetts recognized that a lot of the experts working on this system are hoping for maybe an 80 percent effectiveness rate. Well, 80 percent quite frankly does not cut it. If you have got multiple missiles being launched at us, what city are we going to sacrifice? Is that going to be acceptable? I do not think it gives us much more flexibility in foreign policy negotiations with rogue nations if we just have an 80 percent effective system. But perhaps more importantly is what is going to be the response of Russia and China to even a limited missile defense shield? Is this going to encourage increased nuclear proliferation within their country? Because generally the response from countries that feel threatened from such a system is to ramp up their production of more nuclear weapons so they can overwhelm our system. It is not just China we are talking about. This has profound ramifications with India and Pakistani nuclear policy, perhaps one of the most dangerous areas of nuclear proliferation on the globe right now. We need to ask ourselves what will be the response of these other nations.”