Conservative Principles Now

According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her biggest nightmare is if al-Qaeda or regimes like Iran get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction and use it against us.  She is not alone. Military experts like the former head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering, say that it would take, at most, only about 33 minutes for a missile fired anywhere in the world to hit our country, and life in America would change forever.

So what are we doing to prevent this nightmare?  Thankfully, the military is continuing to test missile defenses, even though the Obama administration cut back on some of the programs that would best protect us.  Locally, law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department are taking on initiatives such as sending explosive experts to screen incoming ships and using helicopters to scan for weapons of mass destruction materials.

Cargo screening is helpful, but not enough. As Heritage Foundation analysts Jena Baker McNeil and Jessica Zuckerman explain, the 100 percent cargo screening mandate from Congress should be scrapped.  It’s excessively costly, provides a false sense of security, and is harming America’s relationship with its international trading partners and allies.

Instead, the federal government should expand efforts like the Container Security Initiative and the Proliferation Security Initiative.  These programs that target high-risk cargo, encourage private sector involvement, and urge other nations to partner with us to prevent terrorists from smuggling chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons materials into the United States.

This strategy is urgent, as recent reports by the congressionally mandated Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism and the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack have made clear.

Effective homeland security initiatives, alongside a robust comprehensive missile defense program, are vital for our security, and needed soon if leaders like Secretary Clinton hope to get a good night’s sleep.

Yesterday, Iran’s hardline regime accused the United States of fueling “Iran phobia” by deploying missile defense systems in several Persian Gulf countries that increasingly feel threatened by Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehrmanparast complained that “We regard these (U.S.) measures as a conspiracy and a ploy by foreign countries to create a sense of Iran phobia.” He attacked U.S. officials for spreading fear: “Because they have lost their presence in Iran, they feel they have no foothold and in order to justify their presence (in the region) they make such an insinuation.”

The vitriolic reaction of Iran’s regime came in response to reports that the United States is expanding the missile defense systems it has deployed on land and at sea near Arab gulf states that are increasingly anxious about Iran’s ballistic missile force – the largest in the Middle East. The U.S. is deploying Patriot anti-missile defenses to four of Iran’s neighbors: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

All four countries have strong reasons for “Iran phobia” based on past experience with Iran’s hostile regime. Kuwait and Bahrain have been attacked by Iran-supported terrorists. All four countries found that their oil tankers were targeted for attack by Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, which was started by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after Iranian revolutionaries sought to foment a Shia rebellion against his Sunni-dominated regime. All four joined the Gulf Cooperation Council, a collective defense alliance formed in reaction to the threats posed by Iran’s radical regime. And all four have watched with mounting concern as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s belligerent regime has forged ahead on its nuclear program, conducted massive air and naval exercises close to their shores and trumpeted the growing capabilities of Iran’s ballistic missile force.

Clearly, the United States does not need to stoke “Iran phobia” among Iran’s neighbors. Tehran already is doing a bang up job of that itself.

For more on Iran, see: Iran Briefing Room