Scud in a Bucket

Conn Carroll /

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivers remarks regarding his US Defense Department budget recomendation for 2010, on April 6, 2009 at the Pentagon in Washington,DC. Gates announced Monday that his recommended defense budget would "profoundly reform" military spending, calling for cuts to major weapons programs such as F-22 fighter jets. "If approved, these recommendations will profoundly reform how this department does business," Gates told a news conference.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates budget proposal includes a $1.4 billion cut to missile defense. In The American Legion Magazine Heritage analyst James Carafano outlines just one reason such cuts will leave America more vulnerable:

Today, the nature of a nuclear threat is different. The United States is less concerned about massive retaliation from another nuclear-armed state and far more worried about a rogue nation or transnational terrorist group that might try to land a sucker-punch, especially if they think they can deliver the blow without leaving a return address.

Several credible scenarios present themselves. … Put a nuclear-tipped Scud on any kind of ship, and you have a “Scud in a bucket.” The idea seems to have occurred to some who do not wish us well. (more…)

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