David Wright and Theodore Postol

According to David Wright and Theodore Postol in the following viewpoint, an effective ballistic missile defense system is technologically infeasible. They claim that the defense system currently being developed by the U.S. military can be easily foiled using such countermeasures as disguising a warhead in an aluminum-coated Mylar balloon. In Wright’s and Postol’s opinion, the U.S. government is wasting money on a national defense system that may actually make America less safe. Wright is a physicist and Postol is a professor of science, technology, and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How do the authors define “inherent asymmetry” in regards to missile defense?
2. As defined by Wright and Postol, what are...