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U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both spoke at the Atlantic Council this week to discuss factors that should be considered as NATO drafts a new “Strategic Concept,” which defines NATO’s purpose, nature, and security tasks.

Secretary Gates said Europe has underfunded defense budgets for NATO, and consequently, has undermined joint security. Specifically, he mentioned missile defense. Land invasion is no longer a pressing threat. The danger of missile attacks is more critical and “more likely to come from outside NATO’s traditional borders; and more likely to require new approaches that incorporate far more than just military power.” (Source)

On the president’s new missile defense policy: “Last year, the Obama administration announced a new plan for missile defense in Europe – a phased, adaptive approach that will give us real capabilities in a shorter period of time than the previous plan. We consider this a U.S.-funded contribution to NATO missile defense, which is critical to the collective-defense mission to protect our populations, territory, and forces.”

Iran is focusing on short- and medium-range missiles, but its long-range capability also poses a threat, whether the capability reaches fruition next year or five years from now. One of the top funding priorities is missile defense. The U.S. and our allies must prepare for long-range weapons, particularly from countries outside NATO that defy the U.N. Security Council.

In scaling back Bush-era missile defense policy, including reducing interceptors in Alaska and California, the Obama administration has left the U.S. vulnerable to long-range ballistic missiles and jeopardized systems like Ground-based Midcourse Defense. In assessing the missile threat, however, the administration seems to realize the need for more, not less, funding for these programs.

Secretary Gates acknowledged the importance of missile defense in his speech, but funding (or the lack thereof) reflects priority. We hope the administration restores missile defense funding and keeps all our options open. Read Gates’s full remarks.

 
In May, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met to discuss problems in the region. The nuclear ambitious Iran is Israel’s enemy, and an armed Iran poses a serious danger to Israel. Obama told Netanyahu that he wanted to meet with the rogue state by the end of the year to talk about its nuclear program.

Sources are reporting that the president now wants to meet with Iran by September to discuss the matter and will consider tougher sanctions against Iran if it fails to comply. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on a tour of the Middle East this week. (Source)

Gates said, “What is clear is if the engagement process is not successful, the United States is prepared to press for significant additional sanctions that would be non-incremental” and added that “The president is certainly anticipating or hoping for some kind of a response this fall, perhaps by the time of the UN General Assembly (in September).”

From our perspective, Obama seems to be hedging, hoping Iran with comply with a September deadline on its own. Of course, it won’t. Aside from international condemnation, what consequences has Iran faced because of its defiance? Would the rogue state react the same way if George Bush were still in office?

Despite Iran’s nuclear program and the country’s clear intentions to continue developing nuclear capabilities, Obama wants to reduce missile defense spending by $1.4 billion. As the Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano notes, ballistic missiles are the best weapons we have to stop enemy attacks that would have devastating consequences. But opponents of strong missile defense can’t see the forest for the trees. Iran and rogue cousin North Korea may not have the capability to cause untold damage now, but they will.

 
David K. Rehbein, a national commander of the American Legion, wrote an article for the Business Wire on the state of missile defense. Even among those who believe strong missile defense is no longer needed, North Korea’s defiance has proven otherwise. The rogue state may not have the capability to launch a nuclear weapon now, but it is determined to improve the technology required to do so.

“Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes the threat seriously enough to have positioned a military ground-based missile defense system to protect Hawaii from missile attack, Rehbein writes. “While The American Legion applauds this decision, the nation’s largest veterans service organization is concerned that the United States is not doing enough to protect us from, well, nuclear annihilation.”

Although nuclear threats loom over us, the Obama administration intends to cut $1.62 billion from the missile defense budget. As we’ve noted before, the administration’s cuts impact Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Interceptors, which would be reduced from 44 to 30.

“The Heritage Foundation has produced a chilling documentary titled ‘33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age.’ A trailer of the film can be viewed at www.legion.org. It makes the sobering point that a ballistic missile fired at the United States could reach its target in 33 minutes or less. It is a moral imperative that our leaders in Washington protect America from this catastrophic possibility.”

Watch the trailer of the high-definition documentary:

 
North Korea may be planning to launch a long-range Taepodong-2 towards Hawaii. Whether true or not, the U.S. is taking no chances. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said the U.S. was monitoring the situation, ordered the deployment of ground-to-air Theater High Altitude Area Defense missiles and the sea-based SBX Radar to Hawaii. (Source)

“Without telegraphing what we will do,” Gates said, “I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory.”

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said the U.S. intends “to vigorously enforce the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874″ and search North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons. As we noted earlier this week, North Korea has threatened retaliation if its ships are stopped and searched. What will happen if the rogue state refuses our requests? Mullen said the U.S. could “direct it to go into a port, and the country of that port would…inspect the vessel.”

What are our options if North Korea chooses to escalate if its ships are stopped? Mullen didn’t answer the question directly. He reiterated that the U.N. Security Council’s resolution speaks for the international community and its commitment to contain North Korea.

“It’s not just the United States, it’s a lot of other countries as well. And the north’s steps to further isolate itself, to further noncomply with international guidance and regulations, in the long-run, puts them in a more difficult position.”

FOX News reports that the U.S. will send the U.S.S. John McCain to intercept a flagged North Korean ship that may have weapons aboard. The navy destroyer will intercept the Kang Nam when it leaves a location off China’s coast.

 
Last month, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired at least five short-range missiles. As the U.N. Security Council prepares a resolution to impose sanctions, sources are reporting that the rogue nation may be gearing up for another nuclear test. (Source)

White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer, who didn’t comment directly about a third nuclear test, said in a statement, “We have come to expect North Korea to act recklessly and dangerously. But while the world unites to pass a strong new Security Council resolution, it is clear that North Korea’s behavior is succeeding only in further isolating itself.”

President Barack Obama may freeze North Korea’s accounts in foreign banks as sanctions, but he’ll likely try to talk to North Korea first. No doubt he prefers six party talks, but admitted that such talks haven’t been effective in the past. North Korea is set to conduct a third nuclear test and has threatened to launch long-range missiles. At this point, having a discussion about its defiance seems futile. In fact, Stephen Bosworth, special envoy to the president, said North Korea has “spurned” attempts to talk.

Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. has 30 ground-based missile interceptors in place to counteract missiles from North Korea. He also said the Obama administration planned to shift funds away from weapons and research for future conflicts and focus on weapons needed for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps the president will reassess this decision in the wake of North Korea’s rumored nuclear test.

 
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expects to see a more pliant Russia when it comes to protecting Europe from missile attacks, according to Voice of America. Speaking at a Senate hearing, Gates said Russia has changed its assessment of Iran and agrees with the U.S. that the rogue nation has advanced far enough to hit targets in Europe.

Gates said this about former President Vladimir Putin: “When I first met with President Putin and talked about this, he basically dismissed the idea that the Iranians would have a missile that would have the range to reach much of Western Europe and much of Russia before 2020 or so. And he showed me a map that his intelligence guys had prepared. And I told him he needed a new intelligence service.”

It’s common knowledge Russia opposes our plans to build missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia called the bases threats, unconvinced that their purpose is to protect Central Europe. The former Soviet state is changing its tune, thanks to Iran’s desire and determination to possess nuclear power.

As irony would have it, we now have a president in the White House who is not committed to building the shields.

U.S. defense contractors are very interested in talks between the two countries, as their programs are at stake in the wake of defense budget cuts. Northrop Grumman wants the Department of Defense to lift a stop-work order so it can move forward with a test flight of the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI).

Northrop spokesman Bob Bishop said, “Taxpayers have invested some $1.1 billion in KEI over the last five-plus years. It would be a shame to spend that money without a test to prove whether the technology works and forego an opportunity to gather valuable data on this first-of-a-kind, high-acceleration agile missile.”

The Obama administration has proposed to cut $1.4 billion from the missile defense budget.

(Source: Voice of America and Reuters)

 
On June 11, 2009, the Heritage Foundation will host a panel discussion in Allison Auditorium at 2 p.m. ET. Speakers Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering and Heritage’s Walter Lohman and James Dean will discuss President Barack Obama’s missile defense budget cuts ($1.4 billion), his limiting interceptor deployment in Alaska and California, and his non-commitment to a third missile shield in Europe.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP at the event web page.

In other North Korea-related news, the Missile Defense Agency says the U.S. military has improved its ability to shoot down long-range missiles North Korea could be gearing up to launch. The military conducted a test simulating an attack from North Korea on December 5. (Source)

This news comes in the wake of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s statement that “there were some signs” North Korea will launch a Taepodong-2, a long-range missile with a reported range of 6,200 miles. Last year, it was reported that North Korea was building a missile launch site capable of firing advanced rockets.

 
Last week North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired at least five short-range missiles. This week the rogue nation may conduct a long-range missile test. Collective criticism against North Korea’s actions have been somewhat understated, which no doubt will embolden the country to continue testing and launching.

Last week U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there is no crisis. Today he said “there were some signs” that North Korea will launch a Taepodong-2, which reportedly has a range of 6,200 miles. (Source) In 2006, North Korea test-launched a Taepodong-3 missile, which failed.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that Israel is concerned that North Korea’s defiance will encourage fellow rogue nation Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University, told the paper that if “the Americans can’t show credibility on North Korea, then they won’t be able to go far. It’s a thermometer. The US has been threatening to take action against North Korea since the 1990s and the North Korea has been able to buy time. The Israeli concern is that’s exactly what will happen with Iran.”

It’s anyone’s guess what the Obama administration will do about North Korea besides downplaying the crisis.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports on “tougher responses” from the U.S. and our allies in Asia if North Korea continues its nuclear program. Gates said “other steps may be considered” if North Korea doesn’t disarm. A Pentagon official said the U.S. preferred six party talks, but admitted that such talks haven’t been effective against the rogue nation.

FOX News has posted a transcript from Greta Van Susteren’s show “On the Record.” News anchor Martha MacCallum interviewed retired Major General Bob Scales on May 29. An excerpt:

“MACCALLUM: All right, so it would seem that North Korea is a bit peeved, to put it mildly, that South Korea has joined this initiative with the United States and that they have — and as part of that initiative, they have the right to stop a ship. So that says to me that North Korea really wants to get some things on ships out of there and perhaps sold to other countries. And they’re doing quite a bit of advertising lately, aren’t they.

“SCALES: Well, that’s exactly right. And one of the reasons they fired these missiles is to demonstrate to their allies, people like Iran and Syria, Yemen, and so forth, that they have the technological capability to do this because, you know, they make several hundred million dollars off of sales of missiles and missile parts every year. And it’s that money that then fuels their nuclear weapons development and their missile development. So they need this money to keep coming in, in order for them to keep producing these weapons.”

 
Calm down, everyone. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says North Korea’s nuclear testing and missile launching are nothing to be alarmed about. (Source)

This week, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired at least five short-range missiles. Kim Jong-Il is flouting the U.N. Security Council’s resolutions, and President Barack Obama’s response has been restrained at best and nonchalant at worst. Now Gates is downplaying North Korea’s hostile acts.

“I don’t think that anybody in the administration thinks there is a crisis,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “What we do have, though, are two new developments that are very provocative, that are aggressive, accompanied by very aggressive rhetoric.” He added: “I do not think there is a need for us to reinforce our military presence in the South. Whatever responses there are have to be multilateral.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. and South Korea have raised alert levels. (Source) Earlier this week, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea called South Korea “puppets” for taking the rogue state’s actions seriously and sending warships to the maritime border along with ours.

North and South Korea called a truce after the Korean War, but the two countries have never signed a peace treaty. Given North Korea’s defiance, they likely never will.

 
The big news this post-Memorial Day weekend is North Korea’s continued defiance in the face of international criticism. On Monday, North Korea reportedly conducted a nuclear test and fired three short-range missiles, which countries like China and Russia condemned. On Tuesday, the rogue state reportedly test-fired two more short-range missiles, and there’s talk of more launches for tomorrow. (Source)

South Korea said it would join the U.S. in intercepting ships from countries like North Korea carrying weapons. The defiant country has already stated it would consider declaring war if its ships were intercepted.

Sanctions against North Korea obliviously are ineffective.

As expected, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s actions in an emergency meeting on Memorial Day. President Barack Obama said, “By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation.”

There’s no doubt the U.S. has the military might to do something about North Korea, but what, and more importantly, when? Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. has 30 ground-based missile interceptors in place to counteract missiles from North Korea. He also said the Obama administration planned to shift funds away from weapons and research for future conflicts and focus on weapons needed for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.