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The Missile Defense Spectator
The Silent Threat
The U.S. remains woefully undefended from missile attack. Will JLENS survive sequestration?
Riots over the Middle East and South Asia get everyone’s attention, but a clear and present danger to the United States homeland exists that virtually no one is talking about and for which we have no defense: missile attack.
A Russian military officials says the recent covert visit of one of their submarines to the Gulf of Mexico proves that they could, without difficulty, launch a missile high over the U.S. that could trigger the explosion of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) bomb that would shut down virtually all electrical and electronic activity in a large swath of the nation. There would be no radiation, no deaths — “only” economic paralysis and chaos.
Add Iran and North Korea to the list of potential launchers of such a weapon.
While we have worked for months to develop missile defense capabilities in Europe to protect against a possible Iranian attack there, we have only tested such systems from bases in California and Alaska. Nothing is ready to deploy and given the threat of “sequestration” of large amounts of defense funds, that situation is unlikely to change.
While Congress and the Administration stew and stall over the sequestration issue, the danger is both clear and present and there is something we can do to protect the U.S. homeland from such attacks. It is called the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netter Sensor. That mouthful is shortened to JLENS.
The Army developed JLENS to detect, identify, track and engage multiple hostile targets, including low-flying cruise missiles, as well as those launched from submarines and merchant vessels. The threat is that such attacks might involve EMP, chemical or biological weapons.
JLENS is deceptively simple, consisting of two lighter-than-air ships that lift to 10,000 feet (or more) both a fire-control and surveillance radar from where they detect potentially hostile targets at ranges of more than 200 miles. It gives field commanders considerable advance warning of threats. The system was tested successfully last April at the Utah Test and Training Range, destroying a simulated hostile cruise missile with a Patriot missile.
Development of JLENS has involved an investment of $2 billion so far. The next step is to answer requests from combat commands for this system by testing it again in the field to fine-tune it. Congress appropriated $40.3 million for such a test; however, before it could be conducted, the Department of Defense asked Congress to allow these funds to be reprogrammed for other purposes, presumably including budget balancing in the face of sequestration.
Since its creation in the 1950s, the Committee on the Present Danger has focused on the changing nature of threats to the United States. With the potential threat to the U.S. homeland increasing daily, the Committee has written to the Secretary of Defense to urge him to withdraw the request to reprogram the funds so that development of JLENS can proceed. Its cost, in the greater scheme of things, is low when measured against the nature and growth of the threat to our homeland.
Mr. Hannaford is member of the board of directors of the Committee on the Present Danger.
About the Author
Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
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c. j. acworth| 9.21.12 @ 8:11AM
Of COURSE there is no money for defense. Defense is a CONSTITUTIONAL function of government, and we've spent it all on MORE IMPORTANT stuff, like Solyndra.
I have no idea if this missle defense system is a good idea or not. If it really is so vital, shut down at least 75% of our bases in Europe (hasn't Germany been pacified yet?) and use the money saved for missle defence. Get our people the hell out of Iraq and Trashcanistan and use the money saved to repair and replace all the equipment we've worn out in the last ten years. Let the world know that another 9/11 (including this last assault in Egypt and Lybia) will be reason enough to flatten the perps and those who aid them. That includes YOU, House of Saud. And DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW.
Gary B| 9.21.12 @ 9:13AM
Judging from the increasing level of incest between the Department of Defense and local police departments and the updated definition of "terrorist," I'd say the emphasis on weapon development has focused on defeating a new enemy - the private citizens of the United States of America. The reptiles who inhabit Washington, DC fear us far more than any foreign threat. I suspect this is because most of us now understand who they really are. Do you think I could submit a FOIA request to find out how many of the hundreds of millions of bullets recently purchased by our beloved DHS are being allocated to my little community, along with the armored vehicles and drones?
Gary B| 9.21.12 @ 1:11PM
Sorry... considering today's environment, a guy could get cynical.
Marko| 9.21.12 @ 12:56PM
This is good news; however it may be a case of too little, too late. To properly defend the country, we must be able to properly identify the greatest threats to our existence.
The really dangerous enemies of the West, like Russia, China, N. Korea, and Iran, are content to play a waiting game while we self-destruct economically. At some point, as is shown in the article, we can no longer afford to buy / update the equipment needed to protect from big pieces of hardware like missiles. Austerity measures are put in place, our military is downsized, new missile technology is put on hold, and our deterrent forces no longer function as such.
Jeff Nyquist and others have written about these concerns for over a decade now. It is fairly plain to see that the current administration, as well as the military planners and whoever else would be in charge of procuring what is needed to defend this country against all attacks, cannot or will not identify the nations I listed above as the real enemies. There are a number of reasons for this, among them being: group-think, incorrect assumptions (ie, that we won the Cold War), failure to understand the Eastern way of thinking, failure to think strategically, or even infiltration by agents of these nations at all levels of decision-making (which is a scary, but possible scenario).
Basically, we are hosed.
Gary B| 9.21.12 @ 6:25PM
"To properly defend the country, we must be able to properly identify the greatest threats to our existence."
Right! And the single greatest threat is headquartered in DC.
Marko| 9.24.12 @ 8:30AM
No, sir, it's not.
Nyquist and others (like Bill Gertz) have spent considerable time and effort to show that the likelihood is high that going back at least several decades, and possibly even further, KGB "active measures" in this country included infiltration of far-right organizations with the intended purpose of fomenting an anti-government, revolutionary attitude among the people of the United States of America. To what extent that infiltration occurred, is anyone's guess. But it doesn't matter, really. If things go from bad to worse, and a significant portion of the population take up arms against their own government, it would serve the purpose of an external enemy who would attack us when, internally, things are the most chaotic.
Think strategically, and learn to identify the enemy. Our government is an unruly beast, to be sure, and needs to be tamed, but it could be far worse. It's not your government that still has thousands of nuclear missiles aimed at your city.
JamesDrouin| 9.21.12 @ 6:37PM
Well, at one time just a few years ago, the US Navy, among other branches, knew where every hostile combatant was ... now, with the Joint Chiefs staffed by Obama appointees, ...
Al Adab| 9.21.12 @ 1:53PM
A missile launched from any old fishing boat a couple hundred miles offshore would reach most of the US population centers. Yet The Left continues to oppose missile defense as too provocative. That combined with their economic and social policies is enough to raise the question, "Does the American Left have a death wish"?
Gary B| 9.21.12 @ 6:22PM
"Does the American Left have a death wish"?
Unwittingly, yes. Since they are not capable of contributing to society, they vandalize it to our and their detriment. This behavior is closely related to their beloved Muslim radicals. They are birds of a feather.
Marko| 9.24.12 @ 8:55AM
A classic speech, "The Great Liberal Death Wish", given by Malcolm Muggeridge in 1979, can be found here:
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/.....iberal.php
Few had the depth of insight that Muggeridge had. With wit and wisdom he exposed the true enemies of the West.