Late in 2019, Boeing was awarded a $265.2-million contract modification for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense anti-ballistic missile system (GMD).  This award shows a strong commitment from the federal government to upgrade and continue funding the only technology available to protect American citizens from a long-range missile attack.  The emerging threat coming from Iran shows the need for upgrading the last line of defense to a potential nuclear missile attack targeting American cities.

The Trump Doctrine, as it relates to Iran, is simple.

According to President Donald J. Trump, speaking on Jan. 8, 2020, "as long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon."  The president recognizes through his actions and words that a strong missile defense system is the last line of defense to protect American citizens on American soil if, in the future, Iran does acquire a nuclear weapon beyond his presidency.

The GMD program is the only technology that can protect the homeland from intercontinental missile attacks with either a conventional or nuclear payload.  It is important for Congress and the Pentagon to continue support for further deployment of these defenses now with the threats coming from rogue nations North Korea and Iran and traditional adversaries Russia and China, which are clearly in possession of nuclear devices of varying sophistication.

On July 1, 2019, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that Iran exceeded its limit on its stockpile of enriched uranium, putting concerns about an Iranian nuclear weapon back in the headlines.  Iran then proclaimed that it had enriched uranium to about 4.5% purity.  Since then, Iran has announced numerous other accelerations of its nuclear program that specifically exceed the provisions of the Iran nuclear deal and shorten the time it would take to build a nuclear weapon.  For these, and other reasons, President Trump withdrew the United States from the unratified agreement with Iran that was designed to limit their nuclear progression.  Couple this with Iran's recent ballistic missile attacks in the region and the need for continued GMD funding becomes apparent.

Despite the new contract, GMD is not in good shape.  Barely one percent of the U.S. military budget is spent on missile defense, and only a fraction of that goes to defense of the homeland.  GMD is facing challenges in assuring the reliability of its interceptor missiles and preserving the supply chain for essential parts as the system ages.  As it grows older, the sole defense of America against a long-range missile attack is gradually degrading.  This is in no small part to a handful of bureaucrats at the Pentagon who have undermined the program and the Trump efforts to strengthen our national defense infrastructure.

Earlier in 2019, an effective pause was placed on the GMD putting millions of Americans and our national economy in jeopardy.  Despite the pushback, many elected politicians disagreed with the unelected bean-counters at the Pentagon.  Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) argued on January 17 of last year, "Missile defense is vital to securing our homeland, our forces abroad and our allies, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future."  He made the case that the Trump administration was going in the right direction with the release of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Review, including "smart and strategic policies that will guide our missile defenses and posture to counter our adversaries through an increased focus on advanced technology."  These are laudable goals that have not yet been met.

It is time for the bureaucrats to catch up to the president's rhetoric and promises to do more to protect America from Iran, China, North Korea, Russia, and any other nations, or non-state actors, who want to fire a missile at American citizens.  American citizens cannot afford 13 days, or 13 minutes, of nuclear threat.

Phil Kiver, Ph.D. is an Army veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  He received his doctorate in strategic studies at Henley-Putnam University.

Image credit: U.S. Missile Defense Agency via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.