Early war games tracked the success of the defense system in the Northeast on a plywood board. Today, more has changed than technology. Proponents of a missile defense system, the natural descendant of '50s civil defense, have fought an uphill battle to win public acceptance. For all its way-out reputation, such a system would provide early detection of incoming ballistic missiles, which now can be loaded with nuclear, chemical, or biological warheads. It also would deploy anti-ballistic missile weapon systems to destroy an incoming missile strike.
Proponents say the time for such a system was yesterday.
The U.S. Patriot missile, of Gulf War fame, could not intercept a long-range missile fired at Alaska or Hawaii by North Korea, or launched by Iran at Israel, or accidentally shot at Great Britain by Russia. For all the storm clouds, the public shows no sign of catching a case of missile scare. Weened from civil preparedness by peace at home and the fall of the Soviet Union, Americans are slow to again take up the Buck Rogers mantle. Comforted by the promises of globalism, they have been unwilling to confront new threats. Yet, as a recent report from the Heritage Foundation points out, Americans at home are as vulnerable as ever, given the proliferation of missiles among developing countries.