Democrat Defense Cuts

Well, I disagreed with the Right, below, here I'm agreeing with Democrats, at least on this:

The Democrats' most controversial cut came in halving money for
building a third ground-based interceptor site in Poland and Czech Republic,
effectively killing plans for the site, according to Republican congressional
aides. The subcommittee cut $160 million from the $300 million request for the
third site and called for a study of the site.

The best defense is a good offense, and our missiles give us greater protection than any missile shield. The Times gave the impression the Dems wished to avoid offending Europeans and the Russians. While caring less what the Euros think, I too wouldn't want to offend a nation with the second largest stockpile of nukes on the planet. The next cuts I do take issue with:

The subcommittee also slashed $400 million from the $517 million
budget of the exotic Airborne Laser Program, the most prominent "boost phase"
missile-defense system that uses a laser gun mounted in a Boeing 747 to shoot
down missiles shortly after launch. The cut effectively kills the program, aides
said. The panel also voted to cut $45 million from the
$119 million requested for a modernized nuclear warhead...

I can see the reasoning by slashing the ABL, since it was to be deployed at the start of the decade and still isn't. The nuclear warhead cut sends a terrible message to potential foes. Both Russia and China have designed and deployed advanced new missiles in recent years ( we were just updating our decades old Minuteman missiles). My own choice would be to move the entire nuclear deterrent to sea, as the Brits do, but refusing to modernize our defenses sends a terrible message as a show of weakness.