Jeffrey LewisKadish on Missile Defense

Defense News asked Former MDA Director Ron Kadish “What do you tell critics who say this [missile defense] system will not be effective?”

Kadish demurred, saying “I can give answers, and very-well calculated and technical answers, about the effectiveness of these types of systems. But that gives information that would necessarily compromise the system in terms of its deterrence and the use of it.”

I guess revealing the real number would undermine the system/’s ability to give adversaries “pause.”

Do you think he’d hesitate to say if the answer was, oh say, ninety percent effective? Like Undersecretary Aldridge claimed before he was rebuked by Senator Levin, who said “I am surprised at your answer because I know the classified number.”