Word: interceptive
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Russia is fuming about the Bush administration's plans to continue to develop its National Missile Defense (NMD). The system would intercept any missile fired at the United States, but it would also nullify the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty--one of the cornerstones of U.S.-Soviet stability during the second half of the Cold War. Although U.S. officials claim that the NMD is strictly for protection against such "rogue states" as North Korea and Iraq, allies and enemies are skeptical, and Moscow fears that the U.S. is scheming toward unilateral global supremacy...
...retains to enforce it--remains the most effective deterrent to nuclear attack. In contrast, the tests of American anti-missile systems have so far yielded dismal results, with interceptors unable to tell the difference between missiles and simple decoys. No one knows whether it is technologically possible to intercept a significant missile attack...
Clinton is now in a hurry to get to a health-subcommittee hearing, but 10 yds. from the SENATORS ONLY elevator she meets her first intercept of the day--a young woman from Watertown, N.Y., who rushes up to shake her hand. "Hi, dear, how are you!" Clinton gushes. "I was just in Watertown yesterday." Next comes a New York City stockbroker skeptical of the Bush tax cut, then a delegation from Kyrgyzstan, then an environmental lobbyist. It happens whenever she walks about Capitol Hill--scandal or no, Hillary remains a celebrity. Most Senators have aides brief them during walks...
...space. While the latter option is backed by those most fervently carrying the Star Wars torch, in a more limited version it also has the support of a number of Senate Democrats, Europeans and even the Russians - a sea-launched "boost phase" system designed to intercept missiles before they leave the atmosphere, rather than the current ground-based system designed to intercept an incoming warhead in space. (Moscow like it because it could effectively neutralize "rogue" state missiles, but not ICBMs fired from deep inside the Russian heartland.) But opting for such a system means pretty much starting from scratch...
...most powerful, best-equipped armed forces in the world and the capacity to destroy the entire Korean peninsula while the first North Korean missile would still be en route to the American continent. Presently, there is no way to intercept such a missile in flight before hitting the U.S., but I am pretty confident that North Korea's leader would not want to see South Korea become an island before his own missile ever reaches its target. In this regard, I feel pretty safe...