To make matters worse, the entire system depends on a small number of ground-based radars, including one located on Shemya Island in Alaska. If that single radar were destroyed, the entire system would be disabled. Surely nations capable of building long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads could damage or destroy a large, immobile radar on that frozen, barren island. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration's primary concern seems to be the defense of the ABM treaty. Television viewers familiar with shuttle launches have seen the booster rockets lift the shuttle into space, plumes of flame burning brightly as the shuttle rises gracefully into space.
Similar rockets can, and do, deliver nuclear warheads.
During the boost phase, missiles move relatively slowly. A successful intercept destroys all the warheads and all the decoys before they can be separated from the rocket that carries them into space. Moreover, a properly configured missile defense system protects widely. One approach to a national missile defense would be to deploy interceptors on Navy ships, possibly on Aegis cruisers, which could then be positioned as necessary. Such a sea-based system might work together with lasers and other devices in space to provide a limited but technologically sophisticated system with global reach and effectiveness.