One year ago Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sat across from Rep. Tom Allen to defend his belief in the National Missile Defense program. During the exchange last June, Rep. Allen said to Secretary Rumsfeld: “I am worried about your talk about responding to capabilities instead of threats. You know, we’re in a realm where we’re talking about some sort of threat that we can’t define from countries we cannot name. … I think it’s misleading to create the impression that this country is on the brink of being attacked by rogue state missiles. … And I think our policy ought to be based on realistic threat assessments and not some sort of vague, uncertain scare tactics.”

Then came Sept. 11 and rogue operatives working with the approval of at least one rogue state (perhaps more) took an at-that-time unutilized capability and flew them straight into three American buildings. No one could have anticipated that manner of attack.History has shown us that Secretary Rumsfeld was right a year ago when he warned that we need to prepare for the capabilities of rogue nations rather than the threats as Rep. Allen would have had us follow.

I don’t blame Rep. Allen for not seeing the attack against us by terrorists.

No one could have. Osama Bin Laden didn’t even tell all of his suicide operatives. It is, however, extremely dangerous and irresponsible to continue to argue against developing the National Missile Defense program when we have the knowledge that rogue operatives are willing to do whatever they can to destroy us – including launching missiles at the United States, our allies, and out interests overseas.

Secretary Rumsfeld testified back then that North Korea had launched a two-stage missile with an attached kick motor for a third stage and that Iran has an active germ-warfare program and a strong interest in developing their nuclear capabilities.

He warned congressional leaders a year ago that “a ballistic missile can be put into a boat, a ship, on a transport erector launcher, peel off the top, erect it and fire it. And it has been done by one of the countries that have those capabilities today. They do not have to be ICBM range; they can be shorter and just as deadly.”

We are currently defenseless against such an attack.

Three thousand Americans died at the hands of only 19 Islamic extremists. How many thousands would die if one Islamic extremist successfully launched from a boat a missile armed with a dirty nuke payload?

This is not a “scare tactic,” as Rep. Allen believed a year ago. Unfortunately this is a very real possibility and one which we must prepare against. Incredibly, Rep. Allen still opposes the National Missile Defense program.

Rep. Allen’s congressional voting record is a loud testament to the fact that he believes in nearly all government spending except where matters of defense are concerned. We must be prepared to defend ourselves against the capabilities of those who seek our destruction. We can not hide behind the fact that these nations have never attacked us with missiles before because we have learned painfully well that once they have developed the ability to attack us with missiles, they will attack us with missiles.

The military has already had several successful tests in developing this technology. We must allow the Department of Defense to continue the research, testing and implementation of a system to protect us from rogue states such as Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and terrorist organizations.

We’ve learned our lesson.

Steven Joyce is the Republican candidate for Congress in Maine’s 1st District.