Skip ahead to page content

entitlements.jpg

Obama cuts missile defense

September 17, 2009 | By Amanda Reinecker

The Obama administration intends to cut key components of America's missile defense shield, it has been revealed. Plans to install missile interceptors in Poland and a tracking station in the Czech Republic have been called off, apparently in an effort to win concessions from Russia.

Nile Gardiner, director of The Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, explains in Britain's Telegraph what the deal means for America's national security and overseas alliances:

This is bad news for all who care about the US commitment to the transatlantic alliance and the defence of Europe as well as the United States. It represents the appalling appeasement of Russian aggression and a willingness to sacrifice American allies on the altar of political expediency. A deal with the Russians to cancel missile defence installations sends a clear message that even Washington can be intimidated by the Russian bear.

What signal does this send to Ukraine, Georgia and a host of other former Soviet satellites who look to America and NATO for protection from their powerful neighbour? The impending cancellation of Third Site is a shameful abandonment of America's friends in eastern and central Europe, and a slap in the face for those who actually believed a key agreement with Washington was worth the paper it was written on.

It's important that America and her allies deploy an effective defense against missiles from Iran and elsewhere, Heritage's Sally McNamara writes:

As President Obama looks to defend the United States against such rogue regimes, missile defense is a tried, tested and trusted protection strategy. The placing of missile defenses outside of the U.S. as well as on the Homeland reinforces America's long-held commitment to the NATO alliance. To make America and her allies deliberately vulnerable to ballistic missile or nuclear attack makes no sense. In an age where America's enemies have ballistic missile capabilities, the United States must have missile defense technologies.

Missile defenses have already demonstrated their value this year. In June, Heritage's Bruce Klingner argued that the deployment of a missile shield to Hawaii was "a proper and prudent response" to North Korean provocations. Such a defense is all the more important since "international diplomatic pressure has failed to deter Pyongyang."

In a recent analysis, Heritage experts debunk common myths about missile defense, including the claims that it doesn't work, that it's too expensive and that we don't need it.

Missile defenses have long been a key priority for The Heritage Foundation. Our experts laid the groundwork for President Reagan's initial Strategic Defense Initiative, and we worked with the Bush administration to ensure the program developed further.

Earlier this year, The Heritage Foundation released a full-length documentary on the importance of missile defenses. Watch a trailer of the film, 33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age and sign up to host a screening in your home.

-  Nathaniel Ward 

Constitution Day

Today is Constitution Day, the designated day to celebrate and reflect on the wisdom of our Founding Fathers who crafted the document.

To mark the occasion, The Heritage Foundation is holding a series of events to spread the word about the importance of the Constitution.

As Meese explains in The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, a detailed analysis of every provision of the nation's highest law, the Constitution endures because it reflects the core principles of American government:

The Constitution of the United States has endured for over two centuries. It remains the object of reverence for nearly all Americans and an object of admiration by peoples around the world. William Gladstone was right in 1878 when he described the U.S. Constitution as "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man."

Part of the reason for the Constitution's enduring strength is that it is the complement of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration provided the philosophical basis for a government that exercises legitimate power by "the consent of the governed," and it defined the conditions of a free people, whose rights and liberty are derived from their Creator. The Constitution delineated the structure of government and the rules for its operation, consistent with the creed of human liberty proclaimed in the Declaration.

Order your copy of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution today.

But it's not enough that we celebrate the Constitution and our nation's first principles just once a year. In fact, they remains relevant to all of today's key policy discussions, an insight which guides all of Heritage's work and led us to include first principles as a key part of our ten-year Leadership for America campaign.

Back in July, Heritage distributed copies of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution to every Senator in advance of Justice Sotomayor's confirmation hearings. And Heritage legal scholars work tirelessly to explain that we should hold to an original understanding of the Constitution.

-  Nathaniel Ward

Other Heritage work of note

  • Today, Heritage's Stephen Keen and J.D. Foster report, "the unemployment rate stands at a 26-year high, and 2.4 millions jobs have been lost since President Obama signed the stimulus into law." But over the past year, the government has enacted a series of costly programs in an effort to "fix" the economy and "create jobs." It's time to rein in these programs, Keen and Foster report, by stopping the "stimulus" program and ending the TARP bailout slush fund.
  • The Obama administration is planning massive cuts to the overall defense budget, even as the military is stuck with outdated equipment and continued overseas combat operations. "Reductions of this magnitude call into question whether we'll be able to provide modern weapons to those in uniform over the next decade," warns Heritage national security expert Mackenzie Eaglen. Unnecessary cuts may cause America to relinquish her military superpower status. In addition, they risk providing our enemies with an incentive to invest in the very programs we've cut.
  • American support for the war in Afghanistan is waning as domestic debates take center stage and 9/11 becomes an all-too-distant memory. "But while often reduced to a fight with terrorists, Afghanistan is about much more than that," writes Heritage national security expert Peter Brookes. U.S. efforts in Afghanistan weigh heavily not just on the fight with al Qaeda but also on India-Pakistan relations and the spread of Iranian influence.
  • Visitors to the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit on Friday are in for a treat: a special screening of 33 Minutes, The Heritage Foundation's new documentary on the importance of missile defense programs. Sign up to host your own screening of 33 Minutes.

In other news

  • European bureaucrats have issued an inane ruling: workers who fall ill while on holiday are entitled to claim those days as sick leave, not vacation time. As the Telegraph notes, this opens the door for widespread abuse.
  • Sen. Olympia Snowe (R – ME) said there is "no way" the Left's health care bill can pass the Senate so long as it offers a public option. She urged the President to drop that proposal, which would create a government-run health insurance company.
  • U.S. officials are expressing concern over Venezuela's recent arms buildup. It remains unclear whether the nation has nuclear ambitions; Russia has already agreed to help the oil-rich nation build a civilian nuclear energy program.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage's website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.

Amanda Reinecker is a writer for MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Nathaniel Ward, the Editor of MyHeritage.org, contributed to this report.