
The United States should shore up its defenses against the growing threat of conventionally armed ballistic and cruise missiles, the head of a Washington, D.C., think-tank said Oct. 11.U.S. missile defense programs are currently focused on using large, expensive interceptors to destroy small numbers of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, such as those that could be fired by North Korea. But American and allied bases in East Asia and elsewhere are increasingly vulnerable to massive volleys of conventional, precision-guided weapons that could…