The missile defense systems of George W. Bush : a critical assessment / Richard Dean Burns.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Missile defense to ABM diplomacy: from Eisenhower to Nixon -- The Strategic Defense Initiative : from Reagan to G.H.W. Bush -- Politics of missile defense deployment : from Clinton to G.W. Bush -- Missile defense in Europe, 2002-2009 : Bush to Obama -- North Korea and Iran missile programs : their regional impact -- The status of missile defense systems, 2003-2009 -- The Obama administration and missile defense.

The Missile Defense Systems of George W. Bush: A Critical Assessment asks and answers a number of pressing questions about Bush's decision to deploy ground-based missiles. Has the system become reliable? If not, what are the prospects for it to become effective? What have the fiscal costs been? What was the political impact of efforts to expand ABM systems to Europe? This is the only major book that brings together all of the factors{u2014}historical and current{u2014}to allow readers to assess President Bush's decisions for themselves. Opening with an extensive history of missile defense, the book analyzes Bush's efforts to establish ground-based missiles in Eastern Europe, as well as the impact of his decisions. Both the administration's policies and evaluations and those of critical observers are presented. President Obama's program for missile defense is reviewed as well. A final chapter evaluates the technical progress of the various ABM systems and weighs the political dimensions of the deployment decision and the cost of the undertaking to date. The pressure to deploy a missile defense system became an ideological mandate during the Clinton years. President George W. Bush unilaterally abrogated the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and ordered deployment of a ground-based system that had not be realistically tested and remained in the developmental stage when he left office. How do we judge his actions?