HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Administration May Scrap Missile Shield to Appease Russia

The administration appears willing to trade America’s national security - and that of our NATO and European allies - by abandoning the missile shield the United States has begun to put in place in Europe and around the world in order to appease Russia, which has long opposed the deployment of American missile defense.  The administration seems to believe that by using the missile shield as a bargaining chip, it can win the Kremlin’s support for dealing more harshly with Iran, which is not far from developing a nuclear weapon.

If this is the administration’s new foreign policy towards both Russia and Iran, it is woefully misguided.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that, “President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons.”  While Administration officials have since denied this account, they did not reaffirm the United States’ commitment to protecting the American people and our allies from the ongoing threat of ballistic missiles from rogue states - and they have continued to insist that the United States may no longer “need…a missile defence system.”

House Committee on Armed Services Ranking Member Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY) and 46 Members of Congress, including Republican Leader John Leader Boehner (R-OH), sent a letter to the president expressing concern over this development:

We strongly support the goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and believe it is in Russia’s interests to work with the international community to achieve this goal.  However, we do not believe that terminating the European missile defense proposal in exchange for Russian assistance with Iran is the best course of action to meet our national security objectives.

House Republicans and Leader Boehner stand willing to work with the Administration to achieve a more peaceful and secure world - but scrapping America’s missile shield is not the way to achieve peace or security.

The United States has spent a considerable amount of time, money, and manpower developing a missile shield that is able to defend the United States and our allies from the threat of nuclear weapons launched via ballistic missiles.  Poland, the Czech Republic, and Japan have agreed to participate in such a defensive shield.  In fact, the United States has sought Russian cooperation in developing a missile shield - as a sign that it should not be viewed as a threat to Russia.  Moscow, however, has consistently rebuffed American advances for cooperation.

In a dangerous and unpredictable world, now is not the time for appeasement; it is a time for strength.  America should never abandon its commitments to our allies or to the American people; the United States must ensure that we have every means at our disposal to protect the American people from harm - whether that comes from Al Qaeda or rogue states.

The United States’ missile shield is an integral component in protecting the American people.  It should not now, nor ever, be sacrificed as a bargaining tool.

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