Cross-blogging: Highlights of House Hearing on Missile Defense

Jeff Lindemeyer wrote earlier this week on the highlights of House Hearing on Missile Defense. The meeting was held on March 5 and the consensus opinion of the witnesses was that:

• The ballistic missile threat has been wildly inflated.
• The U.S. is far more likely to be attacked with WMD transferred via non-missile means such as a dirty bomb than by ICBMs.
• The opportunity costs of spending roughly $10 billion a year on missile defense are enormous.
• The Missile Defense Agency should not be exempted from normal acquisition, testing and reporting requirements.
• The United States needs a comprehensive assessment of the threat posed by ballistic missiles in relation to other threats, such as threats to the homeland transferred via non-missile means.