4th Annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference
As Delivered by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, Washington, DC, Monday, March 20, 2006
Speech by the Honorable Gordon England
Deputy Secretary of Defense
4th Annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference
20 March 2006
“Missile Defense as an Element of National Security”
Good morning! Thanks to Lt. Gen. Obering for the warm introduction.
Trey is a great guy. Did you know that Trey is a student of Dr. Friedman, the famous economist? Dr. Friedman was teaching a class one day, and he saw that one of his students had fallen fast asleep. So he marched over and demanded, “What was the answer to my last question?”
The startled student blurted out, “I don’t know the question, but the answer is increase the money supply!”
It’s also good to see another great American on the agenda–General “Hoss” Cartwright. And I want to say thanks to him, too, for letting me be his warm-up act!
It is a distinct pleasure to be here this morning with the ballistic missile defense community–from MDA, other agencies, the Services, Combatant Commands, and industry.
You are the experts on missile defense, and I can’t add anything to your knowledge in that field. What I can do today, is to put your work building a top-notch missile defense system into the broader strategic context of defending freedom and liberty for our Nation, and our friends and allies.
Our new National Security Strategy, released last week, stresses a very important theme: we have never before faced greater uncertainty about future security conditions, than we do today.
This is a critical time for America. America is fighting a war against dispersed networks of terrorist extremists. They know they can’t succeed with conventional methods, so they use asymmetric means to challenge us and our allies. Their goal is to break our resolve and shatter our way of life. On 9/11, terrorists turned civilian airliners into guided missiles, killing some 3000 people of 60 nationalities. The only reason they didn’t kill 30K or 3M was because they hadn’t figured out how to do it.
But the Long War against terrorist extremists is only part of the nation’s security challenge.
Hostile states or non-state actors could acquire and use weapons of mass destruction, to devastating effect. And the nation also faces the possibility that a major or emerging power could choose a hostile course.
Today, we face a wide array of security challenges and concerns, and each is potent.
Where does a missile threat fit into this picture? The answer is, “almost everywhere.” 26 nations currently have ballistic missiles, and there were nearly 80 ballistic missile launches around the world last year.
Iranand North Korea–countries that our new National Security Strategy calls “tyrannies”–continue to pursue
Terrorists would obtain WMD if they could, and they’re trying. As one of al-Qaeda’s ringleaders, al-Zawahiri said in 2001, “The need is to inflict the maximum casualties against the opponent … for this is the language understood by the west, no matter how much time and effort such operations take.”
The new National Security Strategy says, “The first duty of the US Government remains what it always has been: to protect the American people and American interests.”
Missile defense was, and is, a critical part of our strategy for protecting America. Both the new National Security Strategy and the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review underscore the need for a strong missile defense capability.
Missile defense is a central part of our broader national strategy, a strategy that can only be realized over time and with a great deal of hard work, and I thank you for your steadfast commitment to this task.
The NSS identifies the proliferation of nuclear weapons as one of the greatest threats to our national security. Ballistic missile defenses provide a critical layer of defense for protecting America against the danger of WMD-armed missile attacks.
* The Cold War-era, “one size fits all” notion of deterrence is no longer appropriate to the challenges of the 21st century.
* The updated, “New Triad” concept reinforced in the QDR provides a set of approaches that are more tailorable to a range of potential adversaries, and to range of missiles. I expect that General Cartwright will have more to say on this subject. The new concept includes, as an essential element, an integrated ballistic and cruise missile system.
During the 40 long years of the Cold War, America maintained a steadfast commitment and resolve.
The threats our Nation face today will require the same commitment, the will and resolve that the American people demonstrated during the Cold War. It’s not about a single President or a single Congress. The Cold War commitment spanned Conservatives, Liberals, Democrats and Republicans and across many terms. Although a Republican Congress opposed President Truman on many issues, the Congress and the President were united on the issue of national defense. That same commitment and will is necessary today.