I received an e-mail today from Congressman Denny Rehberg (I subscribe to updates from all my elected officials) telling me that he and several colleagues had written to Secretary of Defense Gates urging him to keep 450 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.  Malmstrom AFB, near Great Falls, Montana, has 150 of them.   

I agree with Rehberg’s letter.

You see, it appears to me the Obama administration is hell-bent on getting rid of most of the nuclear weapons in the United States.  In my opinion that is not a good move.

The world is very dangerous.  Many countries are developing nuclear weapons and are now able to launch them.  These so-called third-world countries believe if they can develop nuclear weapons, they will automatically be on par with the United States – kind of have a seat at the nuclear table, so to speak.  So in my opinion, now is not the time to cut our nuclear arsenal.

Malmstrom already lost a quarter of its missiles in 2007.

In his press release, Rehberg quoted the Chairman of Central Montana Defense Alliance.  The Chairman was correct when he said, “The idea of a nuclear free world truly is euphoric.  Reality sets in when one realizes that there are more nuclear capable states, and possibly individuals, now then ever before.”

That was the strongest point.

But, what does not matter to the Obama Administration is the part where the Chairman was quoted as saying, “To lose our missiles would create a devastating domino effect on our economy.  The military here in the Great Falls area of Montana represents roughly 47% of our economy.”

Yes, but so what?

I don’t agree that protecting the local economy should ever be in the argument about nuclear weapons.  The same argument can be made for the other two missile bases, F.E. Warren in Wyoming and Minot in North Dakota, or any other military installation that is losing a mission or closing altogether.

Security of our Nation must come first.  There is nothing else that matters.

You can bet that when push comes to shove, the Congressional delegations from Wyoming and North Dakota will scream, “Take theirs instead of ours.”  With the clout that North Dakota has in the Senate with Byron Dorgan, Minot looks to be safe for a long long time.

I have a hunch that the Obama Administration will try to close one or two of the three missile bases using cost-savings as the way to sell it to the public, because our country is in deep financial trouble.  If a military base closes, the Federal Government will just throw some money at the local governments and wish them well.  Of course, the Feds will tell us how much money they saved us, and tell us we’re just as safe.

It won’t be true.

The bottom line is the citizens of the United States should thank Rehberg and his colleagues for their proactive approach to this issue.  Hopefully the Obama Administration will take notice and abandon the silly idea of cutting our nuclear weapons.