Missile DefenseS. 1635 The Defend America Act of 1996 Law
S. 1635 sets a clear policy to deploy by the end of the year 2003, a National Missile Defense (NMD) system to provide a highly effective defense of the United States against the most probable source of ballistic missile threats in the post Cold War world limited, unauthorized or accidental ballistic missile attacks.
The legislation does not establish a specific architecture for such a NMD system, but in order to meet the 2003 deployment date, the bill requires the Secretary of Defense to develop for deployment an affordable and operationally effective NMD system.
Section 3. National Missile Defense Policy
Establishes U.S. missile defense policy in two areas: Deployment by the end of 2003 of an NMD system capable of providing a highly effective defense of United States territory against limited, unauthorized, or accidental ballistic missile attacks, and which will be augmented to a layered defense as larger and more sophisticated threats emerge.
