Right now, Congress is embarking on a debate over the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Our Founding Founders understood the necessity of a national defense that protects American citizens from foreign threats. Strong missile defense is consistent with the Founders’ intent. Congress needs to preserve the idea of our forefathers memorialized in the Constitution to protect American citizens from harm. 

The NDAA is a function of Congress to direct the defense priorities going forward. Article I, Section. 8 of the Constitution contains specific powers delegated to Congress that deal with defense.  Former Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) explained the relationship between the Constitution and defense in a paper for the Heritage Foundation titled “A Constitutional Basis for Defense.” Published in 2010 he wrote the following: “Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution lists 17 separate powers granted to the Congress. Six of those powers deal exclusively with the national defense -- far more than any other specific area of governance -- and grant the full range of authorities necessary for establishing the defense of the nation as it was then understood.” The article grants Congress the authority to declare war, organize and fund an Army, establish the Navy, create rules to run the military, organize militias, and use those militias for federal purposes. Congress is currently exercising that authority, and it is pertinent they remember to keep the protection of American citizens paramount.

Alternatively, the President possesses the sole power to command all U.S. Armed Forces. Sen. Talent wrote that Article II provides “the only substantive function of government specifically assigned to the President relates to national security and foreign policy, and the first such responsibility granted him is the authority to command the military.” One can make the argument that national defense is the primary objective of the federal government.

Gregory Foster, a professor at the National Defense University, wrote in Defense One in 2013, that the Constitution “captures the normative essence of military affairs as self-defense (not aggression, not power projection). Furthermore, it thereby implicitly cautions against purchasing defense at the expense of these other strategic priorities -- national unity, justice, domestic tranquility, the general welfare, liberty.” The idea of defending the shores of America was at the core of our founding document and the original goal of national defense. Our founders would have preferred a robust missile defense, as opposed to the projection of power.

Our most effective defense to a nuclear missile attack is the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. The GMD program “provides the capability to engage and destroy limited intermediate and long-range ballistic missile threats in space to protect the United States homeland.” The system employs ground-based interceptors that fire into space. These vehicles intercept and kill incoming ballistic missiles with stations for deploying the EKVs, Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicles, primarily in Alaska and a few in California. There have been speedbumps with a Raytheon-led attempt to redesign the kill vehicle failing and the Pentagon needing to start over to work on an update. This technology alone has proven to be a very effective deterrent to other nations contemplating missile attacks on the United States.

During the consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress needs to follow President Donald J. Trump’s lead. President Trump has shown a commitment to a vibrant missile defense policy consistent with his ‘America First’ foreign policy. The Constitution obligates Congress to protect American citizens from foreign adversaries like North Korea, Russia, Iran, and China. A well-funded missile defense system is essential to our national defense.

Stephanie Farmer is a former staffer for the Rand Paul 2016 presidential campaign.