Hit to Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America from Missile Attack [Hardcover]

Bradley Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2001

The definitive account of the biggest national security issue of our time: the precipitous and politically charged revival of national missile defense. The new Bush administration has wasted no time in making national missile defense the centerpiece of its national security policy and is expected to move forward with testing and eventual deployment of a system to destroy incoming missiles in flight-even though the Russians, the Chinese, and our own European allies have expressed alarm at such action. The system's defenders say that we must press forward if America is to be secure against nuclear, biological, and chemical threats in the decades to come. There's only one problem: No one has ever shown that such a system would actually work. In Hit to Kill, Bradley Graham, a longtime military and foreign affairs correspondent for The Washington Post, tells the behind-the-scenes story of how national missile defense-once considered a discredited relic of the Cold War-was revived during the 1990s to address an emerging Third World missile threat. Graham recounts the political battles surrounding national missile defense during the Clinton administration and the technological trials and tribulations of the major defense firms involved in the project. He reports on the experts who have mobilized in the last year to question the system's unworkability and examines the scientific evidence for and against it. Over the past half century, no proposed weapons system has drawn more argument or more dollars than national missile defense, and Graham explores the reasons for the enduring debate and the costs to the nation of having failed to resolve it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The U.S., writes veteran Washington Post military affairs reporter Graham, has no way of preventing a nuclear missile attack upon its territory; thus, this is the story of the "frustratingly elusive dream" of creating a nationwide antimissile system that all presidents since Johnson have pursued. Graham focuses on the Clinton administration, but in doing so, he uncovers the broader complexities and pitfalls of creating an antimissile system. Uninterested at first, Clinton was pushed to pursue such a plan by a bellicose Republican Congress as well as the successful launch of a sophisticated missile by North Korea. Problems were everywhere: intelligence sources could never accurately say how real the nuclear threat was from "rogue nations" like North Korea; the military, quite presciently, worried that other threats such as a terrorist "bomb in a skyscraper" might be the more clear and present danger. The cost was enormous and it was never clear that the technology for such a system could soon or ever be developed. Political challenges were enormous as well. Deployment of the system would directly violate the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty with Russia, which prohibited such systems. China was threatened by the U.S. moves and Europe disliked unilateral action by the Americans. After a few inconclusive tests, Clinton abandoned the plan, leaving its fate to his successor. Bush at least up to September 11, which the book predates had made an anti-missile system the centerpiece of his defense policy. Graham weaves all these threads into a compelling narrative of America's quest for invulnerability, a quest we now know all too well to be indeed an elusive dream.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

After crude experiments in the Sixties and early Seventies, President Reagan relaunched the national missile defense effort in the 1980s with the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly known as Star Wars. The bulk of this work deals with the 1990s, the political infighting and technical problems, and how the Clinton administration, focused on domestic affairs, was more interested in a cheaper theater defense system. The new Bush administration's announcement that it is making missile defense a top priority has led to much international and domestic controversy. The author does not favor either side of the argument, but he does say that the President must offer some reasonable alternatives to the present security structure to help make things as stable as possible internationally. While the cost of any such system is beyond calculation, the real question remains whether or not it would work. Graham spent many years covering foreign and military affairs for the Washington Post and conducted over 300 interviews for this fair-minded survey, which belongs on the shelf beside Defending America: The Case for Limited National Missile Defense (LJ 9/1/01). Suitable for the circulating collections of all public libraries. (Index not seen.) Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st edition (November 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586480863
• ISBN-13: 978-1586480868
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,749,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hit to Kill, November 27, 2001

By 

Donald S Grubbs Jr (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit to Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America from Missile Attack (Hardcover)

Bradley Graham provides a history of American proposals and efforts to build a ballistic missile defense system, from the U.S. military studies to counter Germany's V-2 rockets in 1944, through Reagan's Star Wars proposal, to the impact on the issues resulting from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He covers the technical, political, international relations, cost, and budgetary aspects. He presents the successes and failures of the government's efforts, and the views of proponents and opponents at each step. The book is readable, and explanations of the complex technical matters are usually presented in words that the layman can comprehend. He retains the objectivity one would expect from a fine journalist. Any reader, regardless of his views on the issues, will be better informed after reading this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hit to Kill, March 10, 2002

By 

James M. Williams (Wasilla, AK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit to Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America from Missile Attack (Hardcover)

This book was recommended to me ..., the Alaska state coordinator for National Missile Defense. I am using it as a resource in an Army War College paper concerning the effect of NMD on potential enemies and allies. This book was of great assistance. Mr. Graham has done an excellent job teaching the history of the program and detailing what has gone right and wrong from the beginning. Excellent, balanced presentation that is easily understandable in a single reading. The chapters are Threat, Policy and Politics, Diplomacy and Technology, and Decision. A top addition to my library and recommended reading to all who are researching, or just curious, about this subject.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ask a rocket scientist, November 12, 2007

By 

The Rocketeer (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit To Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America From Missile Attach (Paperback)

I think "Publishers Weekly" needs to talk to an actual rocket scientist before they declare this technology a "dream." We've had many successful tests of this system, even recently in October of 2007. Such partisan "reviewers" should check the facts rather than look so ignorant. This book does a good job of laying out the groundwork for the background of the need for a defensive system against ICBMs, the technical challenges of "hitting a bullet with a bullet" and such.

Some day we may look back on this as the best thing our technology did to protect millions of American citizens from a nuclear holocaust, despite those who tried to dismiss this as a "dream" or impossible. The technical successes of the test program have already proven them wrong.