CarolC

"The missile defense shield creates a situation in which the US could send missiles to Russia (nuclear or otherwise) and Russia would not be able to respond"


Incorrect. Try to understand what you are talking about.

The 10 interceptors would be easily ( by Russia) overwhelmed by a launch of , say 20 missiles. Thus your point is invalid. They WOULD be effective against a launch of 4-8 missiles, which is what the present design criteria is .

Russia has a lot of missiles. The ONLY way that they would launch only 4-8 missles is if the launch was not under the control of the centyral government, ie, by terrorists or illegal occupation of ther launch sites. I would think that everyone ( except the launching parties) would want them stopped in those circumstances.