Developments in missile defense have led to a capability that is international in nature and agnostic in application. That was the assessment of Gen. James E. Cartwright, USMC, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Speaking at West 2010, Gen. Cartwright allowed that missile defense is much more capable than it was 10 years ago.

He cited its multilayered international capability that provides greater defense around the world. “We have moved to a distributed global capability that is agnostic to where it is set up and delivered,” he said, adding that this system shares awareness with people who are not necessarily allies.

Not only is the United States able to bring in indigenous systems from other nations, far fewer of the systems’ sensors in the network belong to the United States. “We are finding allies in places we never had thought we would find allies,” Gen. Cartwright stated, adding “We are starting to build a deterrent construct that will be better than mutual assured destruction.”