Richard Perle, the esteemed Prince of Darkness himself, has a piece in today’s WaPo where he notes, in response to Russia’s threat to increase their strategic arsenal:

For one thing, the greatly diminished American nuclear force still has many more weapons than it needs. Far from responding in a way that lends credence to Putin’s false claim, we should be looking for ways to reduce our nuclear forces still further. We should greet Russian threats to race with amusement and a big yawn: They would be competing against themselves. If Putin wishes to pour petro-rubles into building more missiles, our response should be limited to sympathy for the ordinary Russians whose taxes will be squandered, much as they were with catastrophic consequences during the Cold War.

No doubt. Unfortunately, he fails to apply that eminently logical advice to the citizens of his own country when it comes to missile defense:

Without any missile defense — our current situation — we are vulnerable to any country or movement that manages to obtain even a single missile capable of reaching the United States.

And with missile defense, assuming that it worked under something other than sterile test conditions, we would be vulnerable to any country or movement that manages to obtain even a single device or warhead, much less a tested and working ballistic missile, and brings it to its target in anything from a LearJet to a Ryder rental truck [The United States has over 12,000 miles of coastline and nearly 7,500 miles of border].

Hey Mr. Perle — how about some compassion for the ordinary Americans whose taxes will be squandered, much as they were during the Cold War? As for the catastrophic consequences of wasteful spending, check out Fabius Maximus’s commentaries on the state of the US economy.