North Korea could test a more capable missile that could deliver a nuclear warhead to the US within the next 15 years. The Clinton administration envisages a second phase of deployment including an additional 100 launchers in North Dakota that would be better able to protect all 50 states against potential future threats from missiles in Iran or Iraq. The threat is not as grave as claimed and is not the largest threat on the horizon. The North Korean missile program has in fact been frozen by recent agreements with the US and South Korea. Secondly, the current ballistic missile-defense technology does not work.
Tests have so far failed and simple countermeasures such as decoys can render a system ineffective.
Thirdly, deployment could ignite a new arms race with Russia and China. Such a system would undoubtedly include sea and even space-based ballistic defense. Building an effective missile defense is technologically very ambitious. Advances in technological capabilities to identify and intercept launches and missiles will at some point make feasible a ballistic missile-defense system that has some degree of effectiveness. However, experts believe that any decision about deployment now is premature.