The Vision of Reagan

March 23, 1983

Let me share with you a vision of the future which offers hope...

What if free people could live secure in the knowledge that their security did not rest upon the threat of instant U.S. retaliation to deter a Soviet attack, that we could intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil or that of our allies?

I know this is a formidable, technical task, one that may not be accomplished before the end of the century. Yet, current technology has attained a level of sophistication where it's reasonable for us to begin this effort. It will take years, probably decades of efforts on many fronts. There will be failures and setbacks, just as there will be successes and breakthroughs...

-Ronald Reagan

Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI was criticized by everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to U.S. liberals, including the American media. It was dangerous, too expensive, and unrealistic. President Reagan, however, was unwavering.

Today, Reagan’s vision is, at least in part, a reality.

The system at this point is designed to defend against an attack, not from Russia, but from a country like North Korea or Iran. During a Tuesday Pentagon news briefing to discuss the results of last week’s successful missile defense test, director of the Missile Defense Agency Lieutenant General Henry Obering III had this to say:

...the system that we are fielding -- and I'll make it very clear -- has nothing to do with the Russians... this is clearly designed for North Korea and Iran, and there's a good technical foundation for that.

Although technological advances continue, Obering said in response to the question “Does it work?”

The answer is yes to that. Is it going to work against more complex threats in the future? We believe it will, as be [sic] bring more and more assets on line...

Obering agreed that this system is not designed for “hundreds of Russian missiles and thousands of warheads, with very advanced countermeasures.” However, he added that if countries like “North Korea, Iran or other rogue nations that may emerge” use “more advanced countermeasure techniques on their limited inventories,” the system “will be able to keep pace with that type of a progression.”

At the same Pentagon news briefing, the senior commander for defense of United States territory, General Victor Renuart Jr., was asked, “At this point is your system up and running 24/7?”

...we can bring missiles up or take them down as need be so that they can continue doing the testing. They'll move the radars in and out of the network so that they can continue software upgrades and the like. But in terms of do I feel comfortable that, should a threat develop... I'm fully confident that we have all of the pieces in place that, if the nation needed to, we could respond.

Thank you, Ronald Reagan