The results of a four-year study of U.S. missile defenses by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis details the vulnerabilities of the East and West Coast ports — as well as the rest of the world — to ballistic missile attacks by terrorist countries such as North Korea. Among many recommendations, the study, sponsored by eight strategic institutes in Washington, D.C., recommends adoption of defensive measures and strategic weaponry, including space-based defenses, by the United States and its allies.

These conclusions were disclosed by Henry F. Cooper chair of the board of High Frontier, and, under President Reagan, the former director of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program. Cooper also served as ambassador and negotiator with the Soviet Union on defense and space issues. Cooper spoke at the Trident Research Center of SCRA on July 7 as a private citizen, concerned by the vulnerability of the United States from missiles such as those recently tested by North Korea.

“Most important of our observations is that the United States has no effective defense against ballistic missile attack — and absolutely none against terrorists who might purchase short-range ballistic missiles and launch them from ships in international waters off our coasts at cities where 75% of Americans live,” Cooper said. “Our ground-based Patriot defenses against short-range missiles are not deployed to protect our coastal regions and ports. Even if they were, they could not be deployed in sufficient numbers to provide any significant capability.”

Up to eight million containers enter U.S. ports each year, of which only 2% on average are inspected. A SCUD-B or cruise missile fits into a 40-foot-long shipping container and terrorists have demonstrated how to launch theses missiles from sea, Cooper said. These missiles could deliver a 270-pound weapon of mass destruction from 200 miles off the East Coast.