Introduction

Political pressure has nonetheless grown in the US for the further development and early deployment of defensive systems. The first of these culminated in the signing of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 1972. Critics argue that they upset strategic stability, encourage regional arms races, and will not in any case work. But the context and character of the current BMD debate differ from those of its predecessors in important respects. American BMD deployments may also encourage more far-reaching political and strategic realignments among the major powers. Theatre-missile defences aimed at protecting allied cities and US troops from theatre-range missiles armed with NBC weapons. It argues that there is no immediate need to deploy US national missile defences because accidental and unauthorised Russian or Chinese attacks are unlikely, and because deterrence should mean that the risk of attack from emerging ballistic-missile states is acceptably low.