Resolution to Urge the President of the United States and Members of Congress to Better Protect Hawaii against the Increasing Threat of a Missile Attack from North Korea by Equipping and Enhancing Hawaii’s Ground-Based Ballistic Missile Defense System at Barking Sands, Kauai

Summary

This resolution urges the President of the United States and Members of Congress to consider the unique threat posed to Hawaii by North Korea’s missile program and to act by enhancing Hawaii’s ground-based ballistic missile defense system at Barking Sands, Kauai.

Resolution to Urge the President of the United States and Members of Congress to Better Protect Hawaii against the Increasing Threat of a Missile Attack from North Korea by Equipping and Enhancing Hawaii’s Ground-Based Ballistic Missile Defense System at Barking Sands, Kauai

WHEREAS, Hawaii is home to more than 1.4 million residents and 8 million visitors per year and is the homeport of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor as well as the headquarters of the Pacific Command – responsible for the defense of over 50% of the earth’s surface; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii, unlike the US Mainland, does not have a layered defense shield against ballistic missiles, particularly from a nearby rogue and nuclear North Korea; and

WHEREAS, from January through April 2016, North Korea despite warnings from the international community and the United States tested its newly developed nuclear weapons, rockets and missiles along the country’s coast on the Korean Peninsula; and

WHEREAS, in March 2016, North Korea threatened to make indiscriminate nuclear strikes on the United States and its allies; and

WHEREAS, the distance between North Korea and Hawaii is approximately 4,500 miles or slightly less than 20 minutes away from a ballistic missile strike; and

WHEREAS, the US Mainland is defended against long-range ballistic missiles by 30 Ground Based Interceptors (GBIs) systems located in California and Alaska, but affords only one defensive launch to protect Hawaii due to its remoteness in the middle of the Pacific; and

WHEREAS, Barking Sands on the Island of Kauai is the home of the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) that has tested, and proven much of America’s present missile defenses systems, yet has no permanent protection against such attacks; and

WHEREAS operationalizing an Aegis Ashore missile defense system at Barking Sands, Kauai – or the same system which is now operational in Romania protecting millions of people in Southeast Europe would provide the needed additional ballistic missile defense that Hawaii, the Pacific Fleet, and the Pacific Command need; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the state of [INSERT STATE] that the President of the United States and members of the US Congress are urged to outfit and enhance the missile defense capabilities at Barking Sands on Kauai to combat the growing missile threat from North Korea; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President and members of the Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Governor of Hawaii, members of the Hawaii State Legislature, and the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.