In response to my post, Trey Obering is a Fool, MDA Spokesman Rick Lehner has transcribed the General’s remarks from an audiotape.
I agree with Obering’s remarks, as transcribed by MDA:
We are not desiring to go against a Chinese threat, but we need to, in our development program, to address the Chinese capabilities, because that’s prudent, because often times technologies that are developed by one country find their way into other nations, so we have to be cognizant of that…and so we are not developing a missile defense for the Chinese, but we need to be cognizant of that, and keep track of their development program.
It would be nice if the system could deal with sophisticated countermeasures, for example.
Assuming that Lehner’s transcript is accurate, Ann Scott Tyson of the Washington Post ought to explain how that paragraph became this one:
The U.S. military is also cooperating with Japan and other Asian nations to address what the Pentagon considers a growing threat from China’s short-range ballistic missiles in the region, while also developing the means to counter an attack by China’s long-range missiles.
“What … we have to do is, in our development program, be able to address the Chinese capabilities, because that’s prudent,” Obering told defense reporters at a breakfast meeting.
I owe an apology here, too. Since people actually read this blog, I ought to have e-mailed Lehner at MDA.
Finally, I wish MDA would make available all of General Obering’s public statements—not just the cases when some reporter and/or blogger make him look foolish, but also the ones where he does it all by himself.
