Why The U.S. Needs A Third Site For National Missile Defense (From Forbes)

The U.S. currently has two sites dedicated to defending the American homeland against ballistic missile attack. The major site is at Fort Greely in Alaska. A much smaller site is at Vandenberg AFB in California. The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency says that it has no requirement for an additional site, but that’s because it has no plan to defeat a Russian or Chinese attack. It is focused solely on the relatively small North Korean arsenal. U.S. nuclear strategy needs to evolve, and the place to begin is by constructing a third missile defense site near the East Coast, and equipping both sites with 60 Next Generation Interceptors. The Pentagon has already identified Fort Drum in upstate New York as the optimum location. The next administration should make construction of a third site a top priority. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.