Fischer queries U.S. Northern Command general on U.S. ballistic-missile defense

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, received assurances last week from a top U.S. Air Force commander that America is nuclear-deterrent ready.

Sen. Fischer queried General Lori J. Robinson, commander of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), during a Feb. 15 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on American readiness under the Russian cruise-missile threat.
The Russians, said Gen. Robinson in her opening statement, pose an “increasing threat to North America due to their long range, low radar cross section, and the limited indications and warnings likely to be seen prior to a combat launch.”

Sen. Fischer asked Robinson whether she was confident that America’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) could defend the nation against a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) attack. GMD is a component of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system. According to the U.S. Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency, GMD allows combatant commanders to engage and destroy limited intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile threats in space.

“Ma’am I am 100 percent confident in my ability to defend the United States of America,” Gen. Robinson replied.

While some observers aren’t as confident about the country’s readiness, the senator said, “I happen to believe that our missile defense system provides really an immense capability and the expansion of that system is going to help us to continue to defend the homeland as this threat increases.”

During their exchange, Robinson also told Sen. Fischer that the United States is working with Canada on northern approach surveillance. “[W]hat I have said to everybody is that I want to be able to detect, ID, track, and engage if necessary, at ranges, to defend our homeland,” Robinson said. “Those are the things that I think about, when I think about Russia.”

Congress and the Trump administration have moved to expand GMD system capacity and improve its ability for discriminating weapons in order to bolster USNORTHCOM’s defense capability, said the senator. Robinson responded that the measures have been “helpful” as USNORTHCOM makes continued refinements to its systems.

“I think that we continue to outpace everybody and it gives me more and more confidence, continued confidence, in our ability to defend the United States,” Robinson said.