U.S. Senate Validates 2015 ICBM Threat To U.S. From Iran

WASHINGTON, April 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, Founder and Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org has made some comments on the House Armed Services Committee hearing held today on Capitol Hill. The purpose of the hearing was to receive testimony on ballistic missile defense policies and programs in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011 and the Future Years Defense Program. Ellison is one of the foremost lay experts in the field of missile defense. Ellison made the following statement about the hearing:

"A bipartisan consent by members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee led by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) that recognized with foreign assistance, Iran could have an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) that would threaten the United States by 2015 was mentioned in a missile defense hearing today and validated by Dr. James Miller, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Dr. Miller also validated that a nuclear weapon could be developed by Iran in the same time frame."

"These two positions resonated with the committee in relation to the President's Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) that would have to adapt to cover a 2015 threat to the U.S. homeland from Iran until the planed 2020 phase for additional protection is deployed on schedule. A clear gap of vulnerability exists to the U.S. homeland of a missile threat from Iran. Questions on the status and urgency of technical hedges for the U.S. homeland centered around the two-stage Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), lead by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in his opening remarks to reduce the gap of vulnerability until phase 4 of the PAA is deployed in 2020 was a major thrust in the hearing today."

Ellison concluded with, "The value, confidence and importance of the 30 GBIs in Alaska and California were highlighted due to its confidence level to protect the homeland up to and beyond 2020 as well as confidence in the two-stage GBI that is essentially the same asset as the three-stage GBI without the third stage as Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly Director, Missile Defense Agency referenced in testimony. Thus our nation's confidence in the current Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) used by the 30 GBIs, the early warning sensors and integration of those into the U.S. homeland missile defense system is very critical as well as the on-time implementation of phase 2 of the PAA next year of deploying a forward based radar in Eastern Europe that would provide earlier sensing information to the 30 GBIs."

SOURCE Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance