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MDAA Alert:
House Rules
January 28, 2020

Chairman Adam Smith speaking at a HASC hearing on North Korea on January 28, 2019.
(Photo: Screenshot of HASC YouTube Live Video)
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Dear Members and Friends,
a
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC), chaired by Congressman Adam Smith - Representative
from Washington's 9th District, held a hearing today on a "Security Update on the
Korean Peninsula," [[link removed]]
with witnesses Honorable John Rood, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Lieutenant
General David Allvin, Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy (J5) for the Joint
Staff.

Here are a few key quotes from the hearing on the status of United States missile
defense for its homeland against North Korea.

"Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here and for what you are doing
for our country. Given the growing North Korean ballistic missile threat to our
homeland, I'd like to ask some questions about our missile defense. We've asked
about regional threats, but to the homeland there is also a growing threat. So Secretary
Rood, according to NORTHCOM, while we can be confident in our current GMD posture
to counter a North Korean threat for the next five to six years, at the rate North
Korea is developing their ICBM [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile] capabilities,
we must begin assuming increased risk around 2025 and beyond. Do you agree with
that assessment? And if so, whatever you can say in this open session what is the
Administration's plan to mitigate that risk?" - Congressman Doug Lamborn, Representative
from Colorado's 5th District.

"First I do share that assessment with NORTHCOM. We do have to watch the North Korean
missile program and their associated other special weapons programs because the
rate of progress is very substantial and it continues. I think that what you will
see in the President's budget submission that will come forward is, and obviously
it has not been submitted to the Congress yet, but I think what you will see is
a continued support for our missile defense program, that's embodied in the policy
document called the Missile Defense Review that the President unveiled and states
very clearly in there our objective is to prevent North Korea from having the ability
to coerce or threaten the United States credibly with their offensive missile force
and commits us to having a defense sufficient to deal with that threat." - Honorable
John Rood, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

"Okay, thank you. I would like to drill down a little bit more and talk about an
underlayer. According to warfighters at NORTHCOM and the engineers and scientists
at [Office of] Research and Engineering, an underlayer composed of the SM-3 IIA
or extended range THAAD would be an excellent complement to our current GMD and
help address the growing threat of not just of North Korea but Iran also. So do
you believe an underlayer would supplement our homeland missile defense and help
mitigate the risk that we've talked about that is growing beyond 2025?" - Congressman
Doug Lamborn, Representative from Colorado's 5th District.

"I do think such an underlayer can make a substantial contribution to the defense
of the United States. It's not a replacement for longer range missile defenses,
which have a much greater capability through things such as the Ground-Based Interceptors
presently deployed in Alaska for a much larger range, longer battlespace if you
will. But certainly an underlayer can make an important contribution to defense
of smaller areas, still very large areas, but smaller than that provided by the
Ground-Based Interceptors in Alaska." - Honorable John Rood, Under Secretary of
Defense for Policy.

"And to help make this supplement come about and become real, can you explain why
the SM-3 IIA test against an ICBM target, planned for later this year, would be
so helpful to mitigate the risk posed by North Korea's ICBM threat?" - Congressman
Doug Lamborn, Representative from Colorado's 5th District.

"That, as you mentioned Congressman, that test is planned, the Missile Defense Agency
will conduct it to validate what the analysis presently shows that the SM-3 IIA
would have a capability against longer range missiles if enabled by all the right
sensors and in the right situation. And so that is an important demonstration or
validation of the capability that we already believe is resident in the system.
But having been through a number of test cycles, its always important to be on
the test range and validate that sir." - Honorable John Rood, Under Secretary of
Defense for Policy.

"Well, I am glad to hear that because as you pointed out, this would be a supplement,
not a substitute, but a supplement to what we need to beef up in our ICBM missile
defense program." - Congressman Doug Lamborn, Representative from Colorado's 5th
District.

"My last question is about shifting over to Guam. INDO-PACOM has indicated they
like to increase our missile defense capability in Guam. What would that look like
and what do we as a Committee need to be doing this year to facilitate whatever
that capability would be?" - Congressman Mike Rogers, Representative from Alabama's
3rd District.

"Well presently, at Guam as you know there is a THAAD missile defense battery there.
Some of the discussion has been whether that should be augmented or are there alternate
ways to provide that sort of missile defense coverage. Again, THAAD, a very high
demand asset, and so it's a matter of compared to whats and there have been some
proposals into INDO-PACOM has put forward for instance, whether you could have some
sea-based, placed on land, Aegis Ashore capabilities and things of that nature."
- Honorable John Rood, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

"Do you layer that in addition to the THAAD or in place of the THAAD?" - Congressman
Mike Rogers, Representative from Alabama's 3rd District.

"Potentially as a replacement for. But a decision has not been made to do that.
The present plan is for THAAD to continue in that role." - Honorable John Rood,
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

It is clear to the United States Congress that our homeland missile defense against
North Korean ICBMs is at risk beyond 2025 as the finite limitation of 44 Ground
Based Interceptors (GBIs) in Alaska is not being increased until 2030 at the earliest
with the development, testing, and deployment of the new Next Generation Interceptor
(NGI). Many of the limited 44 GBIS are first generation interceptors and not all
third generation GBIs that were recently proven on March 25, 2019 in a salvo intercept
test that quantified the system with the DOD's Department of Operational Test and
Evaluation (DOT&E). Adding to the GBI shortage is North Korea's continual ICBM production
along with a possible breakout of future Iranian ICBMs that would add tremendous
stress and compound more risk to the limited number of 44 GBI interceptors. Increasing
the reliability and efficiency of these 44 GBIs is paramount from the interceptor
itself to the sensors it relies on for success. The radar being built in Alaska,
the Long-Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR), and the proposed Homeland Defense Radars
(HDR) in Hawaii and the Pacific will significantly enhance the GBI's efficiency
to defend the United States homeland and Hawaii with these limited 44 GBIs that
can intercept at extreme distances during an ICBM's midcourse phase of flight in
space, which enable second and third shots if necessary for a near perfect defense.
To supplement these 44 GBIs, not replace them, is to add depth and intercept at
shorter ranges in space and underneath the GBIs during an ICBM's terminal phase
of flight. Today there are existing interceptors that are in production and one
will be tested this year against an ICBM target. These interceptors, the Standard
Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA and the THAAD, all have inherent capability within their
systems to intercept successfully an ICBM in descending order of the defended areas.
THAAD interceptors are deployed today in seven THAAD batteries and the SM-3 Block
IIA, which is being produced but not operationally deployed yet, will be on Aegis
ships and Aegis Ashore sites that can serve as an underlayer to defend U.S. territory
.

"I have 100% confidence, I don't say 100% very often. I have a 100% confidence in
those capabilities against North Korea but you have to understand, that's what they
are built for. They are built for North Korea, they're not built for anything else.
They are built for North Korea. They will work against North Korea, god forbid if
we ever have to." - General John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff,
responding to a question on current missile defense systems ability to defend the
U.S. from North Korean missiles at a Center for Strategic and International Studies
event on January 17, 2020.

The United States has to provide its nation the best possible defense it can, deployed,
layered, and operational in place against North Korea and Iran.

Defense wins against North Korea and Iran.
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Respectfully,
Riki Ellison
Chairman and Founder
Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
Click Here to Join MDAA [[link removed]]
MDAA is a non-profit, non-partisan tax-exempt 501(c) (4) organization. Our mission
is to make the world safer by advocating for the development and deployment of missile
defense systems to defend the United States and its allies against missile threats.
We are a membership-funded organization that does not advocate on behalf of any
specific system, technology, architecture or entity. Founded in 2002, MDAA is the
only organization in existence whose primary mission is to recruit, organize, and
mobilize proponents to advocate for the critical need of missile defense. Visit
our website www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org [[link removed]]
for more information.
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Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
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Alexandria, VA 22134
Phone: (703) 299-0060
Email: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
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