More Missile Defense Funding Needed, Analyst Says

A former Defense Department official expressed confidence in the U.S. missile defense system but said it requires significant additional funding, Space & Missile Defense Report reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 11).

Dan Blumenthal, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he believes the system is capable of protecting Japan and South Korea.

“I think that, however, we need a lot more investment” in missile shield initiatives, said Blumenthal, who served as a country director in the defense secretary’s Office for International Security Affairs from 2002 to 2004.

He noted successful tests of the ballistic missile defense system, including downing of target missiles by sea-based interceptors.

“The Japanese felt a lot more reassured when we sent Aegis” ship-based antimissile systems prior to North Korea’s July 4 launches of seven missiles (see GSN, July 5).

North Korea’s subsequent testing of a nuclear weapon (see related GSN story, today) also illustrates the need for missile defense, Blumenthal said.

“Absolutely, this speaks for more defense, more missile defense,” he said at an AEI forum (Space & Missile Defense Report, Oct. 16).

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