James J. Carey
The Boston Globe
Given the recent UN report on Iran’s race to a nuclear weapon and the recent explosion that suggests that the country is close to building a long-range ballistic missile, it would seem foolish for Congress to approve unprecedented cuts to the defense budget that could slash funding for, among many other things, the only shield we have against nuclear ballistic missiles – our missile defense systems.
Your Jan. 2 editorial “Pentagon should do more cutting, less complaining about budget’’ neglected to mention that $600 billion of the $1 trillion in defense cuts proposed by the debt-ceiling deal would slice every defense line item equally, from office supplies to body armor. In addition to reducing our military significantly, these cuts would slow development of our missile defenses, which need updates to effectively defend against the weapons Iran is developing.
Congress wouldn’t intentionally vote to slash our missile defenses. Leaders on both sides of the aisle, from Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, to Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, support the systems, pointing to years of testing that prove that they are our only effective defense against long-range ballistic missiles. Congress shouldn’t let automatic budget cuts slash essential defenses against a nuclear Iran.
