Recently, President Clinton signed into law the National Missile Defense Act of 1999. What is a national missile defense (NMD)? A NMD is in theory “a technological shield that could destroy all incoming missiles” (Cirincione and Von Hippel 1). A NMD would most likely employ ground-based missiles that would intercept and destroy incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). ICBMs are missiles that are capable of hitting targets thousands of miles away from their launch site. The National Missile …showed first 75 words of 2302 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2302 total…The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. May-June. 1999: 29-31. National Academy of Sciences. The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1997. Ray, James Lee. Global Politics. 7th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. “Selling Russia on Missile Defense.” New York Times. 21 Oct. 1999: A24. “What Proponents of Missile Defense Argue and Rebuttals.” Council for a Livable World. n. pag. Online. Internet. 2 Nov. 1999. Available WWW: http://www.clw/org/ef/bmdrebuts.html.