Correspondent of the Day

World Supports Ending Nuclear Proliferation
Editor, Times-Dispatch: I was happy to see Commentary columnist Robin Beres discussing nuclear missiles ["Defending the Need for Robust American Missile Defense"]. The existence of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems is the planet's most serious and immediate problem.

Of course, what one nation considers defensive missile systems are what others might consider offensive threats. Thankfully the race toward mutually assured destruction has been tamped down in recent years, especially since the demise of the U.S.S.R.

Some want to revive it with another generation of defense systems. Some even claim, as did Beres, that either now, or soon, a bullet will be able to hit a bullet in mid-flight. No doubt such technology has improved. But that of potential enemies working on offensive missiles is also improving. It is an endless spiral, wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars desperately needed for other purposes, while not making the planet any safer.

The prudent solution to everybody's national security is to stop building new nuclear devices and their delivery systems and negotiate their elimination. At the same time, we must take aggressive steps to stop proliferation by rogue nations.

America is strong enough, and support across the world is broad enough, to make this viable policy. If we're serious about national security for our country and others, we will respond positively to the leadership on these issues now being offered by tough, visionary international leaders, notably including our own President Barack Obama.

Ben Ragsdale.
Richmond.