President Trump speaks during a Missile Defense Review announcement at the Pentagon on Thursday. (Martin H. Simon/Pool/EPA-EFE)President Trump last week revealed the U.S. Missile Defense Review (MDR), a congressionally mandated statement of U.S. policy to defend the United States, its forces and allies against missile attacks. Defending the United States against a Russian or Chinese nuclear attack may seem like a no-brainer, but missile defense strategies can have dangerous consequences. In fact, during the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty to ban the deployment of homeland missile defense systems. This is a policy change from the Obama administration’s 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review, which sought to cooperate with Russia on missile defense and, while reserving the right to defend against all missile threats in Asia, held out the prospect of dialogue with China on missile defense and strategic stability.

Source: Washington Post January 22, 2019 12:03 UTC