Obama makes right call on Europe missiles

In the new Kennedy administration, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was instantly offended by this duplication of effort and decisively imposed organization-chart order. The Air Force was given land-based strategic missiles, the Navy sea-based submarine systems, and the Army was removed from the game. The secretary also rejected the anti-ballistic missile (ABM), arguing a strong offensive capability was more believable.

McNamara quickly unified the military against him. The Army pressed successfully for an ABM role. When President Lyndon Johnson forced his secretary to resign, he made him President of the World Bank but also forced a public declaration of support for the ABM system.

President Ronald Reagan gave priority to exotic space-based missile interceptors, termed the Strategic Defense Initiative. The Air Force became the leading service but the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed the effort.

The Czech-Poland deployment was defended as prudent given the threats from Iran. Nuclear strategist Herman Kahn used exactly that rogue regime argument in trying to assist McNamara when the earlier ABM system was announced. This very complex type of weapon is much more reliable today.

Obama's shift to a sea-based approach will maintain vigilance against rogues, while removing a thorny political problem in our very important relations with Moscow.

Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of 'After the Cold War' (NYU Press and Macmillan/Palgrave). Contact him at acyr@carthage.edu.

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