Ground-based strategic mid-course ballistic missile defense (GMD) capability challenged

: "'We're asking the Pentagon to follow its own well-established policy: thoroughly testing a system before it is deployed to ensure that it works. The truth is, there as yet are not even plans for operational testing,' retired Lt. General Robert C. Gard, Jr., who serves as the Center's senior military fellow, observed. The Center's Senior Associate for Policy, John Isaacs, noted that the system 'hasn't really undergone any realistic testing in realistic conditions' and that the money proposed for its deployment could be better spent by ensuring that the system's technology works before the administration claims success. 'If some of the technological obstacles can be overcome prior to deployment the American people will be better served,' Isaacs said. 'Right now it looks as if the Bush administration is deploying this system simply to say that they have done it'"