The Pentagon's top missile defense official vigorously defended the system in a speech here Wednesday and compared the agency's critics to some 20th Century skeptics who ended up being famously wrong in their predictions about the feasibility of earlier complex technologies. In a March 20 speech during the 4th Annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference, which the agency co-sponsored with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), acknowledged that the Ground Based Midcourse Defense System has faced significant challenges, but he also compared the program to previous American efforts to develop aircraft, nuclear weapons and manned spacecraft.
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