I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE GEO-POLITICS OF THIS

but I have a soft spot for technological fixes and this seems like a pretty good one.  It also demonstrates that Pres. Obama hasn't given up on ballistic missile defense.

U.S. Military Satellites Achieve 'Holy Grail' of Missile Defense
Turner Brinton, Space News
Date: 23 March 2011 Time: 12:39 PM ET
SPACE.COM

WASHINGTON — A pair of low Earth-orbiting demonstration satellites built by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems for the first time on March 16 detected and tracked a ballistic missile launch through all phases of flight, a Northrop Grumman official said March 22.

So-called birth-to-death tracking of a ballistic missile launch had never been done before from space and is the most significant achievement to date for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) spacecraft, said Doug Young, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of missile defense and warning programs.

“It’s the Holy Grail for missile defense,” Young said during a media briefing here.