[Last] week, Israel successfully conducted a test of a new mobile missile-defense system designed to shield Israeli towns from small rockets launched from the Gaza Strip. When the "Iron Dome" system is fully deployed in the next year, about half the cost— $205 million—will be borne by U.S. taxpayers under a plan advanced by the Obama administration and broadly supported in Congress. …
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has worked decades in Washington, "believes we are cooperating on military-to -military relations in an unprecedented manner," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. Military relations were very close during the Bush administration, but "in many ways the cooperation has been extended and perhaps enhanced in different areas" during the Obama administration, a senior Israeli official acknowledged.
U.S. officials portray the effort as a long-term investment designed to improve the prospects for peace and to make Israel feel less vulnerable to any threat posed by Iran. "A secure Israel is better able to make the tough decisions that will need to be made to make peace," said Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.
High-level exchanges of senior military and defense officials take place almost weekly—more than 75 at the deputy assistant secretary level or above in the past 15 months, according to a Pentagon accounting. That results in an exchange of military and intelligence expertise that U.S. officials say is unique in the world. Access the full article>>
