How many countries have ballistic missiles?

Again, that is one of the great myths. One of the misconceptions that policymakers and the American public have is that there is a growing threat of ballistic missiles. In fact, there isn't. There are far fewer ballistic missiles in the world now than there were 15 years ago or 25 years ago. There are fewer medium-range ballistic missiles. There are fewer intermediate-range ballistic missiles. There are even fewer short-range ballistic missiles. The global arsenals that were constructed during the Cold War are now decreasing. There are some countries who are joining the missile club, who are starting to construct new types of missiles. But even there, there are fewer nations with missile programs now than there were 15 years ago. When you look at it overall, what you realize is that there is a danger of missile proliferation, but it's a regional danger. It's confined to a few areas of the world -- the Middle East, South Asia, North Korea. It's confined. It's changing relatively ...  more