Pentagon Official Receives Ronald Reagan Missile Defense Award

U.S. Department of Defense
April 24, 2013

Deputy Defense Secretary Receives Missile Defense Award

Ground-based midcourse interceptor missile system launch

WASHINGTON: Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter received the 2013 Ronald Reagan Missile Defense Award yesterday for his contributions in advancing missile defense as a critical U.S. defense capability.

Navy Vice Adm. James D. Syring, Missile Defense Agency director, and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James A. Abrahamson, previous director of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and recipient of the 2004 Reagan Award, presented Carter with the award during the Ronald Reagan Missile Defense Forum at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Ronald Reagan and Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb, promoting so-called missile defense

As missile defenses have expanded to play a vital role in the national defense strategy, Carter has been instrumental in defining the relationship between the Missile Defense Agency, the developer, and the military services, which operate the ballistic missile defense system. His perspective has shaped thinking on a national level to meet a real-world evolving threat, officials said in a Pentagon news release announcing the award.

While serving as undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics from April 2009 to October 2011, officials said, Carter led the department’s efforts to accelerate the fulfillment of urgent operational needs, increase the department’s buying power and strengthen the nation’s defenses against emerging threats.

28-story Sea-Based X-Band Radar