The chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee vowed Tuesday to try to accelerate U.S. missile defense capabilities. However, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said he had no specific dollar amount in mind, nor did he know where the money might be best used, the Navy Times reported.
"We have limited capability right now," Hunter said. "Not that we have a perfect missile defense system today, but at least we have something … in my view, it is better to have something than nothing."
Hunter suggested there is time to alter the 2007 defense authorization bill — now pending before a House-Senate conference committee — to make changes in funding for missile defense.
Hunter said the cost, whatever it might be, would not necessarily require cutting other defense programs. He believes missile defense is such a high priority that the American people would support giving the Pentagon more money for that program.
"One thing we don't know is the future," Hunter told at a news conference. "The American people are looking to their nation to defend them."
"We are going to have a missile that comes into the United States that is not a test missile and will not fail," he said, according to the Navy Times report.
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