Scientists urge Obama to drop European missile defense

A group of prominent scientists today released a joint letter organized by the Ploughshares-funded Union of Concerned Scientists, urging President Obama to issue a directive that the United States will not deploy any part of the proposed U.S. missile defense system in Europe before it is proven effective under real-world operating conditions. "This technology has not been adequately tested and has no demonstrated capability in a realistic attack scenario," the letter states. "None of the GMD tests have included realistic countermeasures or tumbling warheads. All flight intercept tests have been conducted under highly scripted conditions with the defense given advance information about the attack details."