U.S. Missile Defense Counters Growing Threat

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  - Six days after North Korea's failed long-range rocket launch, the head of the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency testified on Capitol Hill about bolstering U.S. defenses against a growing ballistic missile threat.

Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly appeared yesterday before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee to discuss the administration's fiscal 2013 budget request of $7.75 billion for his agency.

The request is a reduction of more than $650 million from the fiscal 2012 appropriation. Since 1999, the United States has invested more than $90 billion in missile defense.

The latest request, O'Reilly said, "balances our policies as documented in the 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review [with] U.S. Strategic Command's integrated air and missile defense priorities, [Missile Defense Agency] technical feasibility assessments, affordability constraints and current intelligence community estimates of the ballistic missile threat."

But the director expressed concern to the panel about two critically needed programs that are in jeopardy because of past congressional funding reductions.

The first, he said, is a missile defense sensor capability provided by the precision tracking space system, which allows space-based tracking of ballistic missiles. The second is the need to develop a second independent layer of homeland defense with the SM-3 IIB interceptor, a highly deployable missile that would destroy threat missiles earlier in their flight paths than the current architecture.

"I request your support for these programs," O'Reilly said, "so that our homeland benefits from the same layered missile defense approach that we successfully employ in our regional defenses."

The director described improvements made last year to the complex ballistic missile defense system designed to protect the United States and its allies. These include activating a new missile field and a fire-control node at Fort Greely, Alaska; activating an upgraded early warning radar in Thule, Greenland; and upgrading the reliability of three ground-based interceptors, or GBIs, he said.

"This year," O'Reilly told the panel, "we continue to aggressively pursue the agency's highest priority -- to conduct a missile intercept with the newest version of the GBI's exo-atmospheric kill vehicle after two previous flight-test failures."

A failure review board of government and industry experts redesigned critical GBI kill vehicle components and established more stringent manufacturing and component requirements, he added.

"These requirements have previously not been encountered anywhere in the aerospace industry," O'Reilly noted, adding that these have caused delays in preparing for the next flight tests.

"We will fly a nonintercept test by the end of this year to verify we have resolved all issues, and then we will conduct our next intercept flight test early next year to reactivate the {ground-based midcourse defense] production line," the director said. "We will not approve the execution of a flight test until our engineers and independent experts are convinced that we have resolved all issues discovered in previous testing."

Also this year, the agency will activate a hardened power plant at Fort Greely, increase the firepower of fielded GBIs by testing and upgrading GBI components, and boost the capability of sea-based X-band radar, the tracking and discrimination radar used for the GMD element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

"Regional defense highlights over the past year include the on-time deployment of the first phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach," O'Reilly said, "consisting of the command-and-control node in Germany, forward-based radar in Turkey and an Aegis missile defense ship on station in the Mediterranean Sea."

The agency also demonstrated the first Aegis intercept of a 3,700-kilometer target using remote forward-based radar, he said, and the simultaneous intercept of two missiles by the terminal high-altitude area defense system, called THAAD.

The THAAD element gives the missile defense system a globally transportable, rapidly deployable ability to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles in or out of the atmosphere during the final, or terminal, flight phase.

"This year the first two THAAD batteries will be available for deployment, increasing the number of Aegis-capable ships to 29," the director said, and three SM-3 Block IB flight tests will show that last year's flight-test failure is resolved.

Coming up, he said, the largest missile defense tests in history will involve the first simultaneous intercepts of multiple short and medium-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles by Patriot forward-based radar.

The United States has missile defense cooperative programs with the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Israel, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and many other nations. O'Reilly said the agency works with more than 20 countries, "including our cooperative development programs with Israel and Japan and our first foreign military sale of THAAD to the United Arab Emirates," and supports technical discussions with the Russians on missile defense.

Phases 2 and 3 of the European phased, adaptive approach to missile defense are on track to meet the 2015 and 2018 deployment dates, the director said.

Lao New Year

Laotian flag

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

April 12, 2012

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Laos as you celebrate your New Year.

As we commemorate the 57th anniversary of our bilateral relationship, we reflect on our history of partnership and cooperation. Today, we are building on this foundation of mutual understanding and respect by increasing trade, strengthening law enforcement, improving health, and solving regional issues that are important to the people of Laos and the United States.

As you celebrate this special day and honor Lao culture, heritage, and the rich traditions of the Lao New Year, know that the United States stands with you. Best wishes for a safe and happy New Year.

Note: Shortly after independence for the Kingdom of Laos in 1953, a long civil war ensued between the Royal Laotian forces and the Marxist-Leninist Pathet Lao.  The Pathet Lao won the civil war and began a long campaign of persecution against the Hmong people, who bravely fought against the Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese Army trainers.

General Vang Pao, a decorated veteran of the several wars in Indochina, was the leader of the United Lao National Liberation Front until he passed away in 2011.  The persecution of the Hmong people continues to this day.

Khmer New Year

Flag of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

April 12, 2012

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia as you celebrate the Khmer New Year.

For years, the United States and Cambodia have worked together to create a brighter future for both our people by increasing trade, strengthening civil society, and improving health. Today, we are finding new ways to broaden our relationship and address challenges - from promoting regional security and democracy to expanding global health and development.

Flag of "Democratic Kampuchea"

As you gather with family, friends and neighbors to honor Cambodia's rich traditions and culture, know that the United States stands with you as a partner and friend. Congratulations and best wishes for a peaceful, prosperous, and happy New Year.

Note: The Cambodian people have come a long way since the Khmer Rouge, period, when the Marxist-Leninist Khmer Rouge took power, declaring the country Democratic Kampuchea, and began a genocide that killed 1 out of 3 people in the entire country in just three years.  Google search "Killing Fields" for more information.

Statement on North Korea Missile Launch

Following is the text of a statement released on behalf of the G8 Foreign Ministers:

We, the G-8 Foreign Ministers, condemn the launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, and 1874. Sharing the view that the launch undermines regional peace and stability, we call on the DPRK to abstain from further launches using ballistic missile technology or other actions which aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula. We are ready to consider, with others, taking measures responding to all activities of the DPRK that violate UN Security Council Resolutions, and calling for appropriate response by the United Nations Security Council. We urge the DPRK to meet its international commitments including those under the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks; comply with its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council resolutions, in particular by abandoning all its nuclear weapons and its existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner; cease its uranium enrichment activities, which violate UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874; and take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization.

VIKTOR BOUT SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS FOR TERRORIST CRIMES

DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart today announced that international arms dealer VIKTOR BOUT was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons, including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and over 20,000 AK-47s to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the “FARC”), a designated foreign terrorist organization based in Colombia.  BOUT understood that the weapons would be used to kill Americans in Colombia.  On November 2, 2011, BOUT was convicted on all four counts for which he was charged after a three-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin.

“The crimes Viktor Bout committed represent the worst case scenario for modern law enforcement--the merger of criminal international narcotics cartels with their terrorism enablers,” Leonhart said. “But his sentencing today also reflects the best of modern international law enforcement-- sophisticated, determined, and coordinated. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of criminal investigators and prosecutors in the United States, Thailand, Romania, Curacao and elsewhere, the ‘Merchant of Death’ has finally been held to account in a court of law for his years of profiteering from death and misery around the world.”

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Viktor Bout has been international arms trafficking enemy number one for many years, arming some of the most violent conflicts around the globe.  He was finally brought to justice in an American court for agreeing to provide a staggering number of military grade weapons to an avowed terrorist organization committed to killing Americans.  Today’s sentence is a fitting coda for this career arms trafficker of the most dangerous order.”

According to the Indictment and evidence presented at the trial:

Since the 1990s, BOUT has been an international weapons trafficker.  As a result of his weapons trafficking activities in Liberia, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control within the Department of Treasury placed him on the Specially Designated Nationals list in 2004.  The designation prohibits any transactions between BOUT and U.S. nationals, and freezes any of his assets that are within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Between November 2007 and March 2008, BOUT agreed to sell millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to the FARC, including 700-800 surface-to-air missiles (“SAMs”), over 20,000 AK-47 firearms, 10 million rounds of ammunition, five tons of C-4 plastic explosives, “ultralight” airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers, and unmanned aerial vehicles.  BOUT agreed to sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the DEA (the “CSs”), who represented that they were acquiring them for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack U.S. helicopters in Colombia.

During a covertly recorded meeting in Thailand on March 6, 2008, BOUT stated to the CSs that he could arrange to airdrop the arms to the FARC in Colombia, and offered to sell them two cargo planes that could be used for arms deliveries.  He also provided a map of South America and asked the CSs to show him American radar locations in Colombia.  BOUT said that he understood that the CSs wanted the arms to use against American personnel in Colombia, and advised that, “we have the same enemy,” referring to the United States.  He also stated that the FARC’s fight against the United States was also his fight and that he had been “fighting the United States…for ten to fifteen years.” During the meeting, he also offered to provide people to train the FARC in the use of the arms.

The evidence presented at trial included a recording of the March 6, 2008 meeting between BOUT, the CSs, his former associate Andrew Smulian, and others.  Smulian was charged along with BOUT in March 2008 and pled guilty in July 2008.  Smulian cooperated with the Government and, along with the two CSs, provided testimony at the trial.

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In addition to his prison term, Judge Scheindlin sentenced BOUT to 5 years of supervised released and ordered him to forfeit $15 million.

BOUT was arrested in Thailand in March 2008 based on a Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.  He was subsequently charged in a four-count Indictment in April 2008 and extradited to the Southern District of New York in November 2010.  At trial, he was convicted of (1) conspiring to kill U.S. nationals; (2) conspiring to kill U.S. officers and employees; (3) conspiring to acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles; and (4) conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Besides the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Southern District of New York, the Royal Thai Police was instrumental in the success of the Bout case.  In addition, the Romanian National Police, the Romanian Prosecutor’s Office Attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Korps Politie Curaçao of the Netherlands Antilles, and the Danish National Police Security Services assisted, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.