After an e-mail exchange, reader JP sends along an interview that Yossi Melman of Ha’aretz conducted with Shahram Chubin (left) of the Geneva Center for Security Policy. Chubin makes the case that Iran’s nuclear policy remains inchoate, loosely organized around a general consensus that Iran should have at least the option to go nuclear—something Mohamed …
A Real Ballistic Missile Defense
by | 2004-12-15 | 8 Comments
As you probably already know, the Missile Defense Agency’s Integrated Flight Test (IFT)-13C failed today. I’ve got a post on the subject, Performance Anxiety: Missile Defense Booster Fails to Rise to the Occassion, over on DefenseTech.org. That post notes that flight tests cost around $100 million (this one may have been less since they didn’t …
Performance Anxiety: MDA Booster Fails to Rise to the Occassion
by | 2004-12-15 | No Comments
Integrated Flight Test (IFT)-13C was aborted “after the interceptor missile experienced an anomaly shortly before it was to be launched.” The target, perhaps representing a North Korean ICBM hurtling toward a U.S. city, performed flawlessly. Let’s be clear: This test was a big deal. Thomas Christie, the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, told …
Mapping the Intelligence Budget
by | 2004-12-15 | 3 Comments
In the debate over the National Intelligence Director, news stories often report that the Secretary of Defense “currently controls up to 80 percent of the estimated 40-billion-dollar intelligence budget.” This estimate is either asserted, phrased in the passive voice or attributed to unnamed “experts.” So, where does the estimate come from? The 80 percent part …
