Shooting Down Missile Defense

Congress Takes Another Look at Reagan's $150-Billion 'Star Wars' System

Illustration by: Matt Mahurin

By Matthew Blake 04/21/2008 | 2 Comments

In the House Rayburn Building Wednesday afternoon, three physicists were patiently explaining to members of Congress that the U.S. missile defense system has little practical worth.

"If Iran were reckless enough to attack Europe or the United States," said Phillip E. Coyle, senior adviser at the World Security Institute, a national-security study center, "current U.S. missile defense would not be effective."