Pursuit of the Shield The U.S. Quest for Limited Ballistic Missile Defense

by McMahon, K. Scott

• ISBN13: 9780761806868
• ISBN10: 0761806865
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-04-24
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

Since the 1960s, U.S. political leaders have engaged in a controversial debate regarding the deployment of a strategic ballistic missile defense (BMD) system to protect the American homeland. Using an analytic framework consisting of prerequisites for successful strategic weapon programs, this book assesses BMD proposals from the Cold War era (focusing primarily on the 1967 Sentinel proposal).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v	(1)
About the Author	vi	(6)
List of Abbreviations	xii	(5)
Foreword	xvii
1 Introduction and Description of the Analytical Framework	1	(12)
Illustrative Application of the Analytical Framework: The U.S. Atomic Weapon and Strategic Defense Initiative Programs	4	(9)
Part One The Defense Defeated: Limited BMD During the Cold War Era	13	(42)
2 Meeting the Soviet Threat: The Defense Repulsed	13	(20)
President Eisenhower's BMD Program	13	(3)
Presidents Kennedy and Johnson's BMD Program	16	(17)
3 Seeking a Compromise Candidate: The Defense Reoriented	33	(22)
Sentinel Unveiled	33	(2)
Sentinel Attacked: Threat, Technical, and Strategic Debates	35	(11)
Conclusion: A Consensus Formed and Dissolved	46	(9)
Part Two War in the Desert	55	(74)
4 War in the Desert: The Defense Vindicated	55	(38)
The Iraqi Threat 1990	55	(3)
Desert Storm Lesson Learned: Iraqi Ballistic Missiles and the Strategic Campaign	58	(1)
Scuds and Patriots: The Unsettled Debate	59	(3)
Desert Storm Lesson Learned: Scuds, Patriots, and Future BMD Policies	62	(1)
Desert Storm Lesson Learned: Missile Threats Require Multiple and Redundant Countermeasures	63	(11)
Desert Storm Lesson Learned: Cost Effectiveness is Irrelevant to Limited BMD Systems	74	(1)
Desert Storm Lesson Learned: Today's Friends, Tomorrow's Enemies	75	(2)
Desert Storm Lessons Learned by Others	77	(16)
5 Surge for the Shield: The Post-War Consensus for BMD	93	(36)
President Bush's BMD Program	93	(5)
The Missile Defense Act of 1991	98	(3)
The Missile Defense Act: Strategic, Threat, and Technical Debates in the Senate	101	(2)
The Kremlin Coup D'etat	103	(2)
Surge for the Shield: The Kremlin Coup and the Missile Defense Act	105	(3)
Surge for the Shield: The President's Nuclear Initiative	108	(3)
Congressional Passage of the Missile Defense Act	111	(3)
The Fragile Consensus--Again	114	(15)
Part Three Defense for a New Era	129	(238)
6 NBC Weapon and Ballistic Missile Proliferation: Threat and Response	129	(54)
Strategic Proliferation and the Limits of Technology Denial	129	(1)
Controlling Nuclear Weapon Proliferation	130	(12)
Controlling Chemical and Biological Weapon Proliferation	142	(5)
Controlling Tactical and Strategic Ballistic Missile Proliferation	147	(8)
Disintegration of the USSR: Fuel on the Fire?	155	(2)
The Non-Proliferation Regime: Additional Challenges and Systemic Problems	157	(5)
Concluding Observations	162	(21)
7 NBC Weapon Attack: Motivations and Operational Analysis	183	(34)
NBC Weapon Attack: Motivations and Tactics	183	(10)
NBC Weapon Attack: Delivery Systems and U.S. Defense Options	193	(24)
8 Pursuit of the Shield: The Way Forward	217	(80)
Future BMD Policies, Programs, and Deployments: Underlying Arguments and Assumptions That Drive Requirements	217	(1)
Requirements Driving Future BMD Policies, Programs, and Deployments	218	(4)
Future BMD Deployments and Programs	222	(19)
Renegotiating the ABM Treaty--U.S. Objectives	241	(4)
Renegotiating the ABM Treaty--Working With the Russians	245	(21)
Renegotiating the ABM Treaty--Working With Other Former Soviet Republics	266	(1)
BMD Deployments--Working With U.S. Allies and China	267	(8)
Conclusion: A Future With Ballistic Missile Defenses	275	(22)
Appendix	297	(24)
A Missile Defenses: A Desert Storm Lessons Learned	297	(10)
B Technical Status of BMD Systems and Components	307	(2)
C First-Strike Scenarios With BMD Deployments and START II Force Levels	309	(6)
D Selected World Ballistic Missile Systems and Programs	315	(6)
Sources Consulted	321	(46)
Books and Monographs	321	(7)
Periodicals	328	(14)
Newspapers	342	(11)
Government Documents and Technical Reports	353	(10)
Interviews and Unpublished Materials	363	(4)
Index	367