The quoted $238 billion figure is through 2025, so we're talking about roughly $10 billion a year. Out of a federal budget of over $2.2 trillion this year alone, I think we can afford it. Even if the impossible happened and the federal budget was frozen to this year's level, the budgets will total over $50.6 trillion between now and 2025 (much more likely to top $100 trillion total). Even accepting the impossible low number and the estimated cost of NMD, we're talking about 0.47% of the total budget over that time. By way of perspective, an annual cost of $10 billion is less than half the pork in this year's budget alone. Since so much of the overall NMD architecture is still being defined, I take that estimate with a big grain of salt. Without seeing the architectural assumptions that the estimate was based on, I don't take that number at face value.

Complex weapons systems take many years to develop, test, and put into operation. When looking at possible threats, you have to look beyond what exists today and look at what might be a threat 10-20 years from now. The Clinton Administration ramped up work on NMD for a reason. As often as I disagreed with so many his policies, I understand this one.

What is the most likely way the US could be attacked? We can debate scenarios, but the fact remains that very few people envisioned a year ago that we would be attacked using our own airliners. The very fact that something seems obvious may also mean that's what won't happen. After all, it's easy to defend against the obvious, it's the unexpected or seemingly unlikely threat that bites you in the butt.

Protecting America from attack requires looking at a broad range of possible threats, determining vulnerabilities, developing countermeasures, then spending the money to meet the needs. For example, just this week, a contract valued at almost $17 billion was let to completely overhaul the Coast Guard. One of the components of the DeepWater contract is nuclear detection equipment to detect weapons and radioactive materials being smuggled on ships. That threat scenario is being addressed, as are many others. NMD is just more of the same process.