The Missile Defense Program: Tension between the United States and Russia

The current tension between the United States and Russia about the establishment of an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Europe is not new, rather another twist in a plot that has spanned more than four decades. Ever since the nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile made its first appearance as the primary strategic weapon of the two superpowers,two opposing mindsets about it have prevailed. The first held that it was necessary to accept the reality that each side could completely obliterate the other side, and that therefore it was necessary to anchor stability and national security on MAD – mutual assured deterrence. The opposing notion (usually a minority position) did not find it acceptable to live in a state of affairs in which the nation’s homeland and population were hostages to the other side. According to the proponents of this view, it was necessary to base national security on shutting off the skies to ballistic missiles by means of advanced technology defensive systems. This tension between a strategy of deterrence and a strategy of defense is still with us to this day.