This may be Good News

from the Times Online UK:

Hyperfast missile to hit anywhere in an hour

Tony Allen-Mills in Washington

HAUNTED by the memory of a lost opportunity to kill Osama Bin Laden before he attacked the World Trade Center in New York, US military planners have won President Barack Obama’s support for a new generation of high-speed weapons that are intended to strike anywhere on Earth within an hour.

Obama’s interest in Prompt Global Strike (PGS), a nonnuclear weapons programme, has alarmed China and Russia and complicated nuclear arms reduction negotiations.

White House officials confirmed last week that the president, who won the Nobel peace prize last year, is considering the deployment of a new class of hypersonic guided missiles that can reach their targets at speeds of Mach 5 — about 3,600mph. 

It is encouraging that President Obama may actually be concerned about our defense.

Missile Defense Scuttled?

From the San Franciso Examiner
Obama’s dirty missile defense secrets
By: James Carafano

While campaigning for president, Barack Obama promised to support missile defense that was “pragmatic and cost effective” and “does not divert resources from other national security priorities until we are positive the technology will protect the American public.”....

The intended message: A President Obama would not be negligent on national
security. Once in the White House, he would protect Americans.

That was the promise. Americans believed it. And it helped carry him into the Oval Office with a comfortable majority.

Now that Congress is home for the summer holidays, we have time to reflect on the defense authorization bill they left behind. Unfortunately, the bill indicates that the president’s missile defense promise will not be kept. And Obama has no one but himself to blame.
The Pentagon budget the president sent to Capitol Hill would have slashed production and deployment of U.S.-based missile interceptors by about one-third. The cuts would have come from missile defenses that are already tested, proven and, for the most part, paid for. So
much for the promise of “pragmatic and cost-effective” defenses.

Case in point: The Obama budget included absolutely zero funds to replace “Missile Field One.” This Alaskan missile field, now part of the missile defense shield, includes the first silos built to test the long-range interceptors.

The silos were not built for long-term use. They now need to be replaced. But the Obama budget request zeroed out that funding, even though the budget still retained an already paid for fleet of interceptors.
Go read it all.