Missile Defence and Scientific/Technological Advice. (September 21, 2009)

In December 2006, just days after becoming US secretary of defence, Robert Gates recommended to President George W. Bush that the United States place 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland and an advanced radar system in the Czech Republic.

On July 2, 2009 a letter with twenty signatories, half of whom are Nobel Laureates, was sent to US President Barack Obama explaining why the Bush/Gates anti-missile plan was ill conceived (see below).

According to an opinion piece by Mr Gates published in the September 19, 2009 issue of The New York Times:

That plan would have put the radar and interceptors in Central Europe by 2015 at the earliest. Delays in the Polish and Czech ratification process extended that schedule by at least two years. Which is to say, under the previous program, there would have been no missile-defense system able to protect against Iranian missiles until at least 2017 — and likely much later.

Last week, President Obama — on my recommendation and with the advice of his national-security team and the unanimous support of our senior military leadership — decided to discard that plan in favor of a vastly more suitable approach. In the first phase, to be completed by 2011, we will deploy proven, sea-based SM-3 interceptor missiles — weapons that are growing in capability — in the areas where we see the greatest threat to Europe.

The second phase, which will become operational around 2015, will involve putting upgraded SM-3s on the ground in Southern and Central Europe.

It would be gratifying to think that the views expressed in the July 2 letter to the President were seriously considered and played a significant part in the decision to overturn a worse than useless initiative.

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Signed,