What was the goal of the missile-defense plan?
The system was aimed at defending Europe and the United States against the potential threat of long-range missiles being fired by Iran or North Korea. The Bush administration wanted to deploy up to 10 ground-based missile launchers at a former military base in Poland. The interceptor missiles were still undergoing testing, and there were lingering question about their effectiveness. The Czech Republic was going to host a radar site for the system, and U.S. officials were planning to put another radar system in a third, unnamed European country. And there was a problem with that? The Bush-era plan created a severe diplomatic rift with Russia. Other critics charged the system — with a price tag estimated at $4 billion — was too expensive, faced daunting technological challenges and was aimed against a threat that is still years away from materializing. What’s the Obama administration proposing instead? In its place, Obama approved a new missile defense plan that he said would be “smarter
