EDITORIAL
Anti-missile system: Is it obsolete already?

Among the many reasons cited by top U.S. scientists in opposing the new missile defense system approved by President Bush in 2002 was that it was just a matter of time before someone devised a countermeasure that would render the system useless.

The Russians now say they've devised such a countermeasure — even though they don't need it. They still have enough intercontinental ballistic missiles to overwhelm the defense system by sheer numbers.

Bush's system is intended instead to protect the nation from missiles from a rogue nation, such as from North Korea.

Well and good, but how does Bush think such nations get hold of atomic weapons and missiles? There's every reason to believe that advanced weapons technology and even weapons-grade plutonium are being smuggled out of Russia as we speak. So how long will it take to spread the technology to make warheads elusive enough to penetrate ABM systems?

There are other reasons why this ABM system never made sense. But the development of a countermeasure allows naysaying scientists to say I told you so.