IWG Report

Report of the Independent Working Group on Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-first Century

This report provides an assessment of missile defense requirements beyond the limited ground-based system currently being deployed, together with opportunities to benefit from existing and new technological opportunities. More specifically, it is intended to provide a greater understanding of proven technology options that should form the basis for deployment of an innovative missile defense that draws upon the legacy of technologies developed during the Strategic Defense Initiative program of the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration. The Report provides the necessary vision to exploit existing and future technologies, with space as an indispensable part of missile defense. These technologies/systems, encompassing sea- and space-based assets (such as Brilliant Pebbles), could form the basis for an effective layered defense of the United States, its forward deployed forces, and allies, against a missile threat that, given present proliferation trends, can only increase in the years ahead as additional states, and perhaps terrorist groups, acquire weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

The report's seven sections address the threat; requirements/timelines for missile defense R&D and deployment; the role of space; the historic and present politics against missile defense; international dimensions; and the U.S. science and technology base; and conclusions, recommendations, and several appendices. It was written by the Independent Working Group whose members include missile defense experts from the scientific, technical, and national security policy communities. The report will be distributed throughout the executive branch, on Capitol Hill, and in the broader public policy community, and is also available here for download.