<title>Worldwide missile defense and the war on terrorism</title>

Abstract

At the end of a long developmental road, dating back nearly a half-century, we are on the verge of having a defense against ballistic missiles. Starting some fifty years ago, we have initiated, and halted various programs to explore technology for missile defense. The reason for the go and stop program was the theological debate on deterrence. The issue was whether we would deter the Soviets from attacking us if we were to deploy a defense against their ballistic missiles. Our assessment was it would not, because they would expand their offensive. If you watched the President on TV after 9/11, you could sense the depth of his reaction. He is determined that it won't happen again. Furthermore, he must be conscious that this attack was the first time in nearly two centuries when an enemy caused damage in the US. He has created a new national effort to insure that it doesn't happen again. The efforts devoted to this objective are many, complex, and innovative. I will try to cover the most important activities, then describe how they are integrated to reach that objective in dynamic circumstances, of a long war.© (2002) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.