On June 15, 2002, groundbreaking ceremonies were held at a test site in Delta Junction, Alaska, to celebrate a $64 billion program to develop a national missile defense (NMD) system for the United States. The ceremony also marked the end of a diplomatic era by signifying America's withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, a thirty-year-old pact between the United States and the Soviet Union (later Russia) that had banned such missile defense development. The termination of the ABM Treaty was hailed by some observers as a welcome step toward defending America from missile attack. For others, the end of the treaty signified a step toward a dangerous new arms race.

In 1972, when the ABM Treaty was negotiated, the United States and the Soviet Union were the world's dominant superpowers. They were locked in longstanding "Cold War" hostilities toward each other, which had resulted in a nuclear arms race. By 1972 both...