Jesse Helms

About the author: Jesse Helms is a Republican senator from North Carolina and former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

President George W. Bush made the right decision when he announced in December 2001 that the United States would be withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The changing world situation, including the fall of the Soviet Union and the growing threats posed by Iran, North Korea, and other rogue nations, made the treaty obsolete. The treaty would have severely constrained America's ability to test and develop an effective missile defense system.

Opponents of President George W. Bush's decision to withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty have called it the cornerstone of strategic stability. Yet the foundation beneath that cornerstone collapsed 10 years ago along with the Soviet Union...