It all started with President Ronald Reagan’s vision for avoiding nuclear war

By MEAD TREADWELL

In March of 1983, President Ronald Reagan gave an Oval Office address announcing the Strategic Defense Initiative, a decision he’d made involving “the most basic duty that any President and any people share, the duty to protect and strengthen the peace.”

That day, Reagan put America on the road to developing the technology and building a missile defense, and not relying just on constant buildups of offensive missiles as a method of deterring nuclear attack.

“What if free people could live secure in the knowledge that their security did not rest upon the threat of instant U.S. retaliation to deter a Soviet attack, that we could intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil or that of our allies?” Reagan asked.

He answered his own question with a bold move, one that set off controversy. Democrats in Congress derided the decision as “Star Wars.”

But Reagan was firm, and humane in his approach to avoiding nuclear war.

“I am directing a comprehensive and intensive effort to define a long-term research and development program to begin to achieve our ultimate goal of eliminating the threat posed by strategic nuclear missiles. This could pave the way for arms control measures to eliminate the weapons themselves. 

“We seek neither military superiority nor political advantage. Our only purpose — one all people share — is to search for ways to reduce the danger of nuclear war.”

It took almost 20 years. As research and development leading to deployment moved forward, Alaska assumed a major role in fielding a missile defense, based primarily at Delta Junction’s Fort Greely, and a test-bed at the Kodiak Launch Site. Radars were upgraded in Shemya and Clear, Alaska, and networked with other sensors in Thule, Greenland, Fylingdales, UK and in space.   Other interceptors were placed at Vandenberg AFB in California. Command and control facilities were installed both at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and in Colorado Springs.   

The primary ground based ballistic missile defense system has now been deployed in Alaska for 20 years.

The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance will celebrate that milestone at a Fort Greely ceremony in Delta Junction this coming Monday at 4 p.m.  Alaskans involved in running that integrated missile defense will receive awards at an Anchorage dinner at the Marriott Hotel Saturday evening.  And on Friday morning – tomorrow – Alaskans are invited from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to hear from experts on the future of missile defense at a symposium at the Denaina Center in Anchorage.  

To attend any of these events at no cost, first come, first serve, RSVP by email to [email protected].

Leading this discussion on Friday will be the founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance Riki Ellison, no stranger to Alaska, who has helped develop political support in the nation, with our allies, and in the Congress from almost the beginning. At Friday’s symposium, he will be joined by the Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) Deputy Director for Operations Rob Cunniff, and Tim McRae, Program Director at the Missile Defense Agency.

When I, as the first managing director of the Institute of the North in the late 1990s, organized the first conference in Alaska on missile defense, Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Dan Inouye (D-Hawaii) helped bring members of both the Senate and House Armed Services Committee to our state.

Stevens told our conference at the time that Alaskans should not support missile defense in our state for economic development, even though billions have since been spent here. Our role in defending the country is the most important, and if it weren’t the best place, he said, he’d support fielding missile defense elsewhere.

Since the first generations of ground-based missile defense have been fielded in Alaska, the question now is how large should our facility be to meet changing threats. North Korea, Iranian missiles and accidental launches are covered well with our current configuration, but should a system be larger to deter Russian and Chinese threats?

A second question is what should we be doing to counter the threat of cruise missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles, and drone attacks?   

Since missile defense was deployed, and North Korea continued testing missiles that could reach Alaska and Hawaii, support for missile defense is stronger across the political spectrum. President Barack Obama, for example, put our missile defenses on alert during North Korean tests, and later ordered an expansion of the Alaska facility – even though he had earlier campaigned for dismantling the system.

But the big current questions will likely spur a debate again. Those questions will be discussed at the Friday symposium.    Alaskans should be aware of pending and occurring upgrades to our defense radars, for example, and the role of cyber warfare in deterring missile attack.

Years ago, missile defense was getting started, Alaska’s Legislature passed a resolution calling for a defense of all 50 states, and President George W. Bush in 2001 withdrew from the ABM Treaty to allow Alaska basing to move forward. It’s important that Alaskans continue to stay involved as crucial decisions are made regarding our country’s next steps.

Business leader Mead Treadwell served as lieutenant governor of Alaska from 2010-2014 with Gov. Sean Parnell, and had served as a senior fellow and managing director of the Institute of the North, founded by the late Gov. Wally Hickel. He helped found a broad coalition of think-tanks called the Independent Working Group on Missile Defense, which published widely on the need for missile defense. He is a current member and supporter of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.