Sec. 231. Homeland ballistic missile defense
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Congress makes the following findings: The Ballistic Missile Defense Review of February 2010 stated as its first policy priority that the United States will continue to defend the homeland against the threat of limited ballistic missile attack and that an essential element of the United States' homeland ballistic missile defense strategy is to hedge against future uncertainties, including both the uncertainty of future threat capabilities and the technical risks inherent to our own development plans . The United States currently has an operational Ground-based Midcourse Defense
(GMD)system with 30 Ground-Based Interceptors
(GBIs)deployed in Alaska and California, protecting all of the United States, including the East Coast, against the threat of limited ballistic missile attack from both North Korea and Iran. During 2013, senior military and civilian defense leaders have stated repeatedly that they have confidence in the ability of the current Ground-based Midcourse Defense system to protect the United States from limited ballistic missile attack from North Korea and Iran. On March 15, 2013, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced a series of planned steps to enhance United States homeland ballistic missile defense, to stay ahead of the future missile threat from North Korea and Iran. These steps include the deployment of 14 additional Ground-Based Interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, by 2017, a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of such interceptors deployed by the United States. In response to provocative behavior and public threats by North Korea to launch missiles at the United States, the Department of Defense took a number of actions to enhance United States homeland missile defense capabilities, including deployment of the Sea-Based X-band radar into the Pacific Ocean. Before the March 15, 2013, announcement by Secretary of Defense Hagel, General Robert Kehler, Commander of the United States Strategic Command, testified that I am confident that we can defend against a limited attack from Iran, although we are not in the most optimum posture to do that today… it doesn’t provide total defense today . Shortly after the announcement by Secretary Hagel, General Charles Jacoby, Commander of the United States Northern Command, testified that we have the capability of limited defense right now. And I think it’s not optimum and I think that we’ve made some important steps forward in what was rolled out. And I think we need to continue to assess the threat and make sure we stay ahead of it . As its highest near-term priority, the Missile Defense Agency is designing a correction to the problem that caused a December 2010 flight test failure of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system using the Capability Enhancement-II (CE-II) model of exo-atmospheric kill vehicle, and plans to demonstrate the correction through flight testing, including an intercept test, before resuming production, assembly, or refurbishment of additional Capability Enhancement-II kill vehicles. The Department of Defense has a program to improve the performance and reliability of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. According to Department officials, the goal of the Ground-Based Interceptor reliability program is to double the number of threat Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) that the current United States inventory of Ground-Based Interceptors could defeat, thereby effectively doubling the capability of the current Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. The Missile Defense Agency, working with the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation and with United States Strategic Command, has developed a comprehensive Integrated Master Test Plan
(IMTP)for missile defense, with flight tests for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system planned through fiscal year 2023, including salvo testing, multiple simultaneous engagement testing, and operational testing. The current test plan includes an additional intercept flight test using the Capability Enhancement-I kill vehicle, scheduled for mid-2013, to demonstrate the reliability enhancements to Ground-Based Interceptors quipped with that kill vehicle. The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation reviewed and approved the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system test plan and pace, including the plan to demonstrate the correction of the Capability Enhancement-II kill vehicle. In May, 2013, Vice Admiral James Syring, the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, testified to Congress that he is seeking to improve the performance and reliability of the Ground-Based Interceptors, and to make the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system more operationally effective and cost-effective , including by improving its sensors, discrimination, kill assessment, and battle management. He testified that these improvements are absolutely needed and are equally important to interceptors in terms of staying ahead of the threat. As part of its United States homeland defense hedging strategy, the Department of Defense has already decided upon or implemented a number of actions to improve the missile defense posture of the United States to stay ahead of the evolving threat of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles from North Korea and Iran. These include the following actions: As announced by Secretary of Defense Hagel, the Department plans to deploy 14 additional Ground-Based Interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, by 2017, to deploy a second AN/TPY-2 radar in Japan, and to pursue an advanced kill vehicle technology development program. The Missile Defense Agency has completed construction of Missile Field-2 at Fort Greely, Alaska, with eight extra silos available to deploy the additional operational Ground-Based Interceptors announced by Secretary of Defense Hagel. The Department plans to refurbish the 6 prototype silos in Missile Field-1 at Fort Greely, Alaska, to deploy the additional Ground-Based Interceptors announced by Secretary of Defense Hagel. The Missile Defense Agency plans to deploy an in-flight interceptor communication system data terminal at Fort Drum, New York, to enhance the performance of Ground-Based Interceptors defending the eastern United States against possible future missile threats from Iran. The Missile Defense Agency is continuing the development and testing of the two-stage Ground-Based Interceptor for possible deployment in the future, if needed. The Missile Defense Agency plans to upgrade the early warning radars in Clear, Alaska, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to enhance the ability to defend the United States homeland against potential future Intercontinental Ballistic Missile threats from North Korea and Iran. The Missile Defense Agency is evaluating sites for a possible future United States homeland ballistic missile defense interceptor site in the United States, in compliance with section 227 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 ( Public Law 112–239 ), and will complete an Environmental Impact Statement for the best suited sites by early 2016, in case the President decides to proceed with the deployment of such a site. As part of its United States homeland missile defense hedging strategy, the Department of Defense is considering additional options to enhance the future United States posture and capability to defend the homeland, including the feasibility, advisability, and affordability of deploying additional Ground-Based Interceptors beyond the 14 Ground-Based Interceptors announced by Secretary of Defense Hagel, including possibly at a missile defense site on the East Coast of the United States. In discussing the possible benefits of a potential additional missile defense interceptor site in the United States, General Jacoby testified that exploring a third site is an important next step. What a third site gives me, whether it’s on the East Coast or an alternate location, would be increased battle space. That means increased opportunity for me to engage threats from either Iran or North Korea . It is the sense of Congress that— it is a national priority to defend the United States homeland against the threat of limited ballistic missile attack from North Korea and Iran; the currently deployed Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, with 30 Ground-Based Interceptors deployed in Alaska and California, provides protection of the entire United States homeland, including the East Coast, against the threat of limited ballistic missile attack from North Korea and Iran, although this capability can and should be improved;; it is essential for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system to achieve the levels of reliability, availability, sustainability, and operational performance that will allow it to continue providing protection of the United States homeland against limited ballistic missile attack and to stay ahead of the threat as it develops; the Missile Defense Agency should, as its highest priority, correct the problem that caused the December 2010 Ground-based Midcourse Defense system flight test failure and demonstrate the correction through flight testing, including a successful intercept test, before resuming production of the Capability Enhancement-II kill vehicle, in order to provide confidence that the system will work as intended; the Department of Defense should continue to enhance the performance and reliability of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, and enhance the capability of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (including through improved sensors, discrimination, kill assessment, exo-atmospheric kill vehicles, and battle management) to provide improved capability to defend the United States homeland against the evolving missile threats from North Korea and Iran; the Missile Defense Agency should continue its robust, rigorous, and realistic testing of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, as described in the Integrated Master Test Plan, including salvo testing, multiple simultaneous engagement testing, and operational testing; the Department of Defense has taken a number of prudent, affordable, cost-effective, and operationally significant steps to hedge against the possibility of future growth in the ballistic missile threat to the United States homeland from North Korea and Iran, including the planned deployment of 14 additional Ground-Based Interceptors; and the Department of Defense should continue to evaluate the evolving long-range missile threat from North Korea and Iran and consider further possibilities for prudent, affordable, cost-effective, and operationally significant steps to improve the posture of the United States to defend the United States homeland against possible future growth in the threat from North Korea and Iran. Not later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on potential future options for enhancing United States homeland ballistic missile defense. The report required by paragraph
(1)shall include the following: A description of the current assessment of the threat to the United States from long-range ballistic missiles of North Korea and Iran, and an assessment of the projected future threat through 2022, including a discussion of confidence levels and uncertainties in such threat assessment. A description of the current United States homeland ballistic missile defense capability to defend against the current threat of limited ballistic missile attack from North Korea and Iran. A description of planned improvements to the current United States homeland ballistic missile defense system, and the capability enhancements that would result from such planned improvements, including— deployment of 14 additional Ground-Based Interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska; missile defense upgrades of early warning radars at Clear, Alaska, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts; deployment of an In-Flight Interceptor Communications System Data Terminal at Fort Drum, New York; and improvements to the effectiveness and reliability of the Ground-Based Interceptors and the overall Ground-based Midcourse defense system. A description of potential additional future United States homeland ballistic missile defense options, in addition to those described in subparagraph (C), if future ballistic missile threats warrant deployment of such options to increase United States homeland ballistic missile defense capabilities, including— deployment of a missile defense interceptor site on the East Coast; deployment of a missile defense interceptor site in another location in the United States, other than on the East Coast; expansion of Missile Field-1 at Fort Greely, Alaska, to an operationally available 20-silo configuration, to permit further interceptor deployments; deployment of additional Ground-Based Interceptors for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system at Fort Greely, Alaska, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, or both; deployment of additional missile defense sensors, including possibly an X-band radar on the East Coast or elsewhere, to enhance system tracking and discrimination; enhancements to the operational effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and overall performance of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system through improvements to system reliability, discrimination, battle management, exo-atmospheric kill vehicle capability, and related functions; the potential for future enhancement and deployment of the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor to augment United States homeland ballistic missile defense; missile defense options to defend the United States homeland against ballistic missiles that could be launched from vessels on the seas around the United States, including the Gulf of Mexico, or other ballistic missile threats that could approach the United States from the south, should such a threat arise in the future; and any other options the Secretary considers appropriate. For each option described under paragraph (2)(D), the Secretary shall provide an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of such option. The evaluation of each such option shall include consideration of the following: Technical feasibility. Operational effectiveness and utility against the projected future threat. Cost, cost effectiveness, and affordability. Schedule considerations. Agility to respond to changes in future threat evolution. Based on the evaluation required by paragraph (3), the Secretary shall include in the report required by paragraph
(1)such findings, conclusions, and recommendations as the Secretary considers appropriate for potential future options for United States homeland ballistic missile defense. The report required by paragraph
(1)shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
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- Pub. L. 112-239
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Sec. 231
Homeland ballistic missile defense
Pub. L.Pub. L. 112-239
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