Missile Defense Agency
BMDS PEIS
c/o ICF Consulting
9300 Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22031

RE: My comments on Missile Defense deployment

Dear Mr. Lehner,

I very strongly support the "No Action" alternative to deploying a missile defense system. The United States should not deploy a missile defense system unless it will improve the overall ecological, political, and security environment. On all three grounds, the proposed system fails completely and dangerously.

Deployment of the Bush administration's proposed missile defense system threatens the global environment. It will increase the likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe by impelling Russia to maintain a larger nuclear arsenal on high alert than it otherwise would, and by driving China to build and deploy a larger arsenal than it otherwise would. The impact of a nuclear war, either accidental or intentional, would dwarf any other environmental nightmare scenario one can envision.

Moreover, the system does absolutely nothing to improve our security environment. Independent analysis indicates that the ballistic missile defense system that is planned will have no demonstrated capability and would be ineffective against a real attack by long-range missiles. There is no technical justification for deploying the system. General Eugene Habiger (ret.), head of the U.S. Strategic Command in the mid-1990's, has stated, "A system is being deployed that doesn't have any credible capability. I cannot recall any military system being deployed in such a manner."

Deployment should be halted until the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is finished and the system succeeds in realistic testing.

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