The cause for this disastrous oversight is the flawed Department of Defense Mobility Capability Study (MCS) that was preliminarily briefed to members of Congress in December 2005.

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The Davis-Hammond plan's abandonment of any global capability, however, makes effective defense of our allies impracticable and invites nations that desire missile defense to proceed on their own, individually or collectively.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

As Gaffney notes, however, even at the high-end this necessary recapitalization of the Nation's defense capability will represent a mere four percent of the gross domestic product - - four cents on the American national dollar for national security.

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To be clear, the greatest single pockets of expertise and capability exist within the defense and intelligence communities.

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Professor GERALD STEINBERG (Bar Ilan University): There's a lot of criticism of Peretz as defense minister not only with no military capability but making grandiose speeches about capabilities about mission or war aims that just couldn't be met.

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Then, in 1998, the blue-ribbon Commission on Ballistic Missile Threats chaired by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned that others might seek such a capability.

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Because of the damage that a single nuclear weapon can do, an overlapping defense capability is required against a nuclear attack.

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In the absence of a clear and driving threat, such as that provided by the Soviet Union, its role was as a placeholder, allowing defense planners and budgeters to define a useful and affordable military capability that could respond to the range of known demands and unknown future contingencies.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | The Measure of a Superpower: A Two Major Regional Contingency Military for the 21st Century