Today 22 eminent physicists with expertise in weapons systems called for the elimination of funding for ground-based interceptors for the missile defense system the Bush administration is seeking to deploy.
"[W]e urge you to eliminate all funding to purchase or deploy any additional interceptor missiles until operationally realistic tests of the system demonstrate that it would work against a real world attack," wrote the physicists in a letter delivered to key members of Congress today.
Nine Nobel laureates in physics signed the letter, including Steven Weinberg of the University of Texas at Austin, Jerome Friedman of MIT, Leon Lederman of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Burton Richter of Stanford University, and Nicolaas Bloembergen of Harvard University. Nineteen are members of the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Engineering.
Noting that the ground-based missile defense (GMD) system has "no demonstrated capability to defend against a real attack, even from a single warhead," the scientists urged the Pentagon to "refocus the GMD program on conducting operationally realistic tests, which are the only means of collecting accurate data on system performance."
The physicists explained that, even if the system was able to overcome existing flaws and hit their intended targets, "technical assessments demonstrate that the GMD system will be unable to counter a missile attack that includes even unsophisticated countermeasures." Countermeasures refer to often simple measures an attacker can use to confuse, overwhelm, or otherwise defeat the defense.
Read the full text of the letter and the list of signers.
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