Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Defending the United States: Revisiting National Missile Defense against North Korea

| Winter 2021/22

Summary

Despite two decades of dedicated and costly efforts, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile defense system remains unproven and unreliable in deterring North Korea’s threat to use intercontinental ballistic missiles. GMD and other U.S. missile defense efforts have provoked serious concerns in Russia and China that these defenses may threaten their nuclear deterrents. An airborne boost-phase intercept system may offer an alternative missile defense architecture against North Korea without threatening Russian or Chinese deterrents.

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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation:

Jaganath Sankaran and Steve Fetter, "Defending the United States: Revisiting National Missile Defense against North Korea," International Security, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Winter 2021/22), pp. 51–86, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00426.

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