Obama Nominates Missile Defense Critic to Key White House Spot | The Weekly Standard

Obama Nominates Missile Defense Critic to Key White House Spot | The Weekly Standard: "To date, President Obama's nominations to key defense postings have been mostly pragmatic, starting at the top with the retention of Secretary Gates. However, in the instance of Philip Coyle -- nominated to fill the associate director of national security and international affairs spot in the Office of Science and Technology Policy-- the administration whiffed. Coyle, a long time opponent of ballistic missile defense (dating back to Reagan's SDI days), is an ideologue whose appointment could prove harmful to U.S. security.

Coyle claims that missile defense is a 'theology, not a technology.' He's argued, steadily, that BMD systems are useless against countermeasures like chaff and maneuverable warheads, and that testing failures in certain systems renders the technology obsolete. In 2006, just prior to North Korea test firing a volley of ballistic missiles, Coyle wrote:"