Missile Defense: Driving Adversarialism in Foreign Policy

In the past year, the Bush administration has begun its public campaign for international missile defense. Despite early criticism, Bush has been successful in implementing his policy of advanced protection for the US against rouge state intercontinental missiles. At the same time, the White House has effectively pursued a multi-lateral missile defense strategy, setting the stage for cooperative missile defense that unites the asymmetric world in a system featuring effective defense and redundant intelligence. To this end, the Bush administration has been abundantly successful in pursuing international consensus. But, these are not the only victories for the Bush administration.

The timely push for missile defense has spawned a peaceful international pursuit of missile defense systems. Russia, who boasts the largest active missile defense system in the world, is not entirely fond of Bush's plans; nor is China. To be sure, this opposition will require tactical communications and negotiated non-proliferation. However, the recent progress made in North Korea and Iran, who have simultaneously found it opportune to involve themselves with the international community, has eliminated some threat of nuclear missile proliferation. Driving the adversarialist policy, has been Bush's foreign policy of partial inclusion for rouge states. North Korea and Iran seem to be uniformly deterred; and together, they pose an interesting question; "why does the US need a missile defense system, if we do not have nuclear missile capabilities?"

The answer to their question is two-fold. First, the systems are complete and ensure safety. The capabilities for ensuring the prevention of nuclear attack via inter-continental missile is available, and the United States should not procrastinate. Second, the world can not trust these nations until they have accomplished years of peaceful participation in the global community.

So, it seems that the Bush administration may have the proper timing to intercept nuclear proliferation and intercontinental missiles.