Washington (January 17, 2019)- Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today on the Defense Department’s finalized Missile Defense Review (MDR), a report outlining U.S. missile defense policy and strategy.  The last Missile Defense Review was completed in 2010 under the Obama administration.

“President Trump’s Missile Defense Review is a bad Star Wars sequel that we shouldn’t have to see again,” said Senator Markey. “While it is true that the missile threat environment America now faces is different, the answer is not to build a wall in space.

“President Trump’s misguided rush to weaponize space would be as ineffective, costly, and dangerous as it was more than three decades ago when it was soundly rejected. Spending billions of dollars to try and defend American from every missile our adversaries possess is a not a winning strategy – it is wasteful and potentially destabilizing. We should instead focus on strengthening our limited regional missile defenses, maintaining and expanding the existing international arms control architecture, engaging Russia, China, and others on how diplomatically to ensure the weapons of the future, like hypersonic missiles, do not undermine American security. The United States can continue to be the world’s leader in advanced technologies to promote strategic stability, but we don’t need to waste billions of taxpayers’ dollars to do so.”

In August 2018, Senator Markey called on the Defense Department to release the MDR, which was originally due in January 2018.

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