Missile Defense

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TURNER. Thank you, Mr. Akin. I appreciate your leadership on this and your leadership on the Armed Services Committee, and I want to thank you for doing this this evening. This is such an important issue.

And, Congressman Franks, I appreciate his leadership in trying to highlight where we have been, what we've accomplished, and, of course, the threats that we have in front of us.

Many people are not necessarily aware that we have missile defense currently deployed to protect portions of the United States and to respond to some of the threats. It's not a complete shield for the area, and it's certainly something that we moved quickly to deploy in the face of the issue of the threats of North Korea. Our system currently has 26 Ground-Based Interceptors in Alaska and California, 18 Aegis Missile Defense ships, 13 Patriot battalions, and five Ground-Based Radars all supported by satellite-based systems and command and control systems.

The issue here is that this is deployed initially to respond to emerging threats, but it's an incomplete system. It's one we have not fully yet assembled, and it certainly is technology that is emerging. The more that we work with this, the more that we learn, the greater ingenuity that we have and the ability to respond to what are real threats to our country.

As we all look to what Iran is doing and what North Korea is doing, we know that there is a real threat to our country, a real threat to our allies, and a real threat to our interests. So we have to preserve in this budget round our ability to fund the deployment of these systems, the maintenance, the upgrade, the research and development that will help us look to the future as to how do we protect our country and our allies. This is a very important function, and I really appreciate your bringing this to light and all those who are participating.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TURNER. Again, I want to thank you for your focus on this because there is an information gap, I think, between our capability of what we are able to do and what the American people know that we can do. So many times when people talk about missile defense, they remember the past criticisms, that this is a system that would not work, it's an impossible task.

Well, this is a system that not only works, it's deployed. And many people are not aware that we actually have missile defense systems that are deployed for the purposes of protecting the United States from the threat of North Korea. Again, as you and I were discussing, it's an incomplete system in that we have not fully deployed all of the system that's necessary to protect the United States. But, again, this is a system that has not only been tested fully, responds to some of the threats that we have, but it's actually deployed.

Now, it is just the first phase of a system. We have to continue our research, continue the American ingenuity that is so great. The missiles that you have behind you that are able to intercept are so important, again, and technology that people said would not work.

We have other technologies that we need to explore; for example, the airborne laser, being able to take high directed energy and actually apply them to some of the missiles that threaten us. That's the technology that's so important to pursue.

Because as we pursue research and development, as we pursue testing and find out the ways in which we can utilize this, these technologies to protect ourselves, we are going to perfect it. We are going to find the American ingenuity that we all know and apply it in ways that protect our families and our communities and our cities.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TURNER. I think the real easy answer as to why we should have missile defense is because our adversaries are so interested in funding missiles, and they obviously see that missiles are a way that they put us at risk because they are investing so heavily in it, in research and technology. And we are seeing in the rogue nations, now North Korea and Iran and their capabilities, the fact that they are reaching for these shows that we need to reach for the defense.

One area that I wanted to raise and that I know that we need investment in is in the area of intelligence and our space capabilities that give us the eyes and ears and the ability to understand what some of the threats are, to be able see them, to be able to respond.

It is good to bring this information to light for the public, because people need to know what's out there, what we are capable of, but also what is left to do.

Mr. AKIN. It is such a treat for me tonight to be able to share this time with my colleagues, people who are patriots, good friends of mine, people who love this country, want to see our cities and our citizens defended, people who continue in the tradition of Ronald Reagan.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source