John Steinbruner

About the author: John Steinbruner is director of the Center for International and Security Studies and a professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland.

The push to deploy a National Missile Defense (NMD) system—an arsenal of missiles capable of targeting and destroying any nuclear missiles descending on the United States—is motivated by politics, not technical or strategic requirements, and ignores the threat that such a system would have on the security of the United States. Deploying a NMD system would enable other countries to design nuclear weapons that could evade U.S. defenses. Furthermore, in establishing a NMD system, the United States would break the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty—a move that would provoke hostile international reaction...