Nation-wide Missile Defense

Why Nation-wide Missile Defense is selected as a top issue:

Nation-wide missile defense (as opposed to scattered regional or local defenses) has fundamental impact on balance of military power and the dynamics of arms competition. Deployment of such defenses would seem to have security benefits if it did not provoke strategic instability and greater off-shore threats. However, missile defense does provoke those threats. Furthermore, a national missile shield is an unreliable defense against the least probable threat. U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 ABM Treaty could have a "domino effect" on undermining the nuclear nonproliferation regime. Thus, it is one of the five top issues.

These selected charts and documents help further understanding of the issue. It is not an exhaustive list, but a good starting point. Annotations will be added at a later date.

Vast resources are available via links to other Internet sites:

Gateway to Internet

Recommendations for specific off-site resources on this issue will be added in the future.