“Bush administration had an ideological attachment to missile defense”

President Obama has confirmed that the US intends to shelve its plans for a missile defense system in Europe. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said this action comes “soon enough.”

"The Obama administration is sincere about adjusting Russia–US relations,” said Kimball.

“I think the urgency was ill-founded,” Kimball said of the push to deploy the missile defense shield in 2006.

“The Bush administration was rushing ahead. Even at that point it was clear enough that Iran had not perfected a long-range ballistic missile. The Bush administration realized that if it would start pouring concrete in the ground at a missile deployment site in Poland, it would be hard for the following administration to reverse that trend.”

“Obama and Gates will put emphasis on more proven interceptor systems designed to deal with short and medium missile threats,” he added.