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Missile Wars

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View here in full this 53 minute FRONTLINE program divided into consecutive segments. You'll need either the RealPlayer plug-in or the Windows Media Player plug-in to watch the video.

For four decades, questions of cost and technology have haunted the divisive debate over national missile defense.

In 1994, the GOP's Contract with America demands a national missile defense. Key to the political strategy is finding a post-Soviet threat.

In 1998, Donald Rumsfeld heads a commission to reassess the missile threat. Its controversial findings lead to a new push for missile defense.

The first hit to kill test, in Oct. 1999, is an apparent success. But the next two tests fail. Clinton defers the decision to deploy.

George W. Bush names Donald Rumsfeld his secretary of defense, and the administration vows to make missile defense a reality by 2004.

In the long political debate over missile defense, the Bush administration has prevailed. But can the U.S. rely on an unproven technology for its defense?

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