{"id":20702,"date":"2017-12-12T14:12:04","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T14:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/12\/regional-defense-is-us-national-defense-commentary\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:16:37","slug":"regional-defense-is-us-national-defense-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2017\/12\/12\/regional-defense-is-us-national-defense-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional defense is US national defense [Commentary]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recognizing the seriousness of the growing threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the United States, it was a welcome sign that President Donald Trump recently reclassified North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. This designation puts North Korea under increasingly harsher sanctions to reinforce the nonnegotiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upping the ante, China and some of its banking and industrial institutions are finally being precisely targeted in an effort to apply much-needed diplomatic and economic pressure to the one country responsible for allowing North Korea to grow into this threat. The region is on edge and is looking to the United States to take a leadership role to help build up their defenses, especially with ballistic missile technology and systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The previous administration\u2019s phased, adaptive approach to regional ballistic missile defense was designed to phase in additional capability as it became available and adapt to changes in the threat. This effort on land and at sea in Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region includes a focus on getting allies and partners to deploy their own missile defense capabilities and working to integrate them with U.S. systems to improve regional protection. Although President Trump stated that \u201c[North Korea] must end its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile development,\u201d this approach must also be met with even further credible and capable actions that serve to bolster the regional defenses of our allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current Ballistic Missile Defense Review, being conducted by the Department of Defense, will examine the administration\u2019s policies for protecting U.S.-deployed forces, allies and partners around the globe. Key steps in this effort include the expansion of the missile defense toolkit available to combatant commanders and national-level decision-makers, to include cyber, drones and directed energy. Even with these rapidly improving programs, it is critical that we continue to apply pressure quietly but directly on China while simultaneously investing in proven missile defenses that exist today.<\/p>\n\n\n\t