The Influence of Polictics, Technology, and Asia on the Future of U.s. Missile Defense

This work presents an overview of ballistic missile defense (BMD) initiatives and their attendant technologies with a careful analysis of their existing capabilities and potentialities to make recommendations as to the BMD initiatives that are most likely to provide realistic expectations of useful defense capabilities in the near to mid-term. There is also an extended discussion of the implications of BMD in the relationships of the United States and the nations of Asia, particularly Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and Japan.