" This revised and updated edition identifies the cultural factors and specific administrative agendas that have shaped the way we view ballistic missile technology. Three new sections connect our recent, sudden shifts in foreign policy to ongoing historical patterns. Whether cautioning against the “almost neurotic pursuit of absolute security” or examining the powerful influence of religion on military buildup, Ernest J.Yanarella uncovers the deeply ingrained attitudes that will determine the future of American missile defense.

Why ABM?: Policy Issues in the Missile Defense Controversy focuses on the problems of invention and deployment of defenses against anti-ballistic missiles (ABM). The book first discusses early, present, and future missile defense systems, including the efficiency of missile defense and the use of missiles in penetration aids and tactics. The deployment of ballistic missile defense (BMD) is explained. The text takes a look at the missile defense systems of the Soviet Union and their participation in the arms race. The reactions of the Soviet Union on the use of BMD and positions of Soviets and Americans on arms race issues are underscored. The selection reviews the implications of missile defense on Europe. Concerns include arms control and the prospects of European settlement; impact on the future of NATO; and attitude toward China. The possible effects of ABM on non-proliferation are also discussed. The text also takes a look at strategic arms control and stability. This topic includes effects on diplomatic relationships and debates on the use and deployment of missiles in defense strategies. The book is a vital source of reference for readers interested in international security, particularly the use of missiles in defense systems.

This revised and updated edition identifies the cultural factors and specific administrative agendas that have shaped the way we view ballistic missile technology. Three new sections connect our recent, sudden shifts in foreign policy to ongoing historical patterns. Whether cautioning against the "almost neurotic pursuit of absolute security" or examining the powerful influence of religion on military buildup, Ernest J. Yanarella uncovers the deeply ingrained attitudes that will determine the future of American missile defense.

The Missile Defense Controversy is the first book to cover the ballistic missile controversy from its beginnings in the interservice politics of the Eisenhower fifties to its conclusion in the post-September 11th era. Identifying the cultural factors and specific administrative agendas that have shaped the way we view ballistic missile technology, Ernest J. Yanarella illustrates how pro-missile initiatives reflect America s need to seek the illusion of absolute security, an imperative that grew out of the country s largely Protestant notions about worldly evil and redemption. Three new sections connect our recent, sudden shifts in foreign policy to ongoing historical patterns.

Defense against nuclear attack—so natural and seemingly so compelling a goal—has provoked debate for at least twenty years. Ballistic missle defense systems, formerly called antiballistic missile systems, offer the prospect of remedying both superpowers' alarming vulnerability to nuclear weapons by technological rather than political means. But whether ballistic missile defenses can be made to work and whether it is wise to build them remain controversial. The U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 restricts testing and deployment of ballistic missile defenses but has not prohibited more than a decade of research and development on both sides. As exotic new proposals are put forward for space-based directed-energy systems, questions about the effectiveness and wisdom of missile defense have again become central to the national debate on defense policy. This study, jointly sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, examines the strategic, technological, and political issues raised by ballistic missile defense. Eight contributors take an analytical approach to their areas of expertise, which include the relationship of missile defense to nuclear strategy, the nature and potential applications of current and future technologies, the views on missile defense in the Soviet Union and among the smaller nuclear powers, the meaning of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty for today's technology, and the present role and historical legacy of ballistic missile defense in the context of East-West relations. The volume editors give a comprehensive introduction to this wide range of subjects and an assessment of future prospects. In the final chapter, nine knowledgeable observers offer their varied personal views on the ballistic missile defense question.