Nancy Reagan to dedicate site at Vandenberg Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 05:46:08 -0700 (PDT) April 5, 2006 12:00 AM Former first lady Nancy Reagan is expected at Vandenberg Air Force base on Monday to dedicate the missile defense complex there to her late husband, President Ronald Reagan, who first championed the weapons system. The Ronald W. Reagan missile defense site includes four silos that house two interceptor missiles. Two silos are being used for testing. The two interceptors at Vandenberg and nine interceptors at Fort Greeley, Ala., are part of a Ballistic Missile Defense System meant to shoot down incoming intercontinental missiles fired on the U.S. More interceptors are planned for the coming years. Development of the missile defense system costs more than $10 billion a year. While critics have called it a billion-dollar boondoggle that couldn't stop even a limited attack, supporters say the system at least provides rudimentary protection that could counter a threat from a nation like North Korea. At Monday's ceremony, Mrs. Reagan will dedicate the site and unveil a bust and plaque honoring her husband at a spot overlooking the wind-swept missile defense complex and the Pacific Ocean. Gordon England, deputy secretary of defense ; former California governor and U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson; and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Ala., are also expected to attend. In a March 1983 speech announcing his intent to build a ballistic missile defense system, Mr. Reagan said: "I know this is a formidable, technical task . . . yet current technology has attained a level of sophistication where it's reasonable for us to begin this effort. It will take years, probably decades, of efforts on many fronts. There will be failures and setbacks, just as there will be successes and breakthroughs." But Mr. Reagan's so-called Strategic Defense Initiative -- dubbed "Star Wars" by some because it envisioned a space-based defense system that would target missiles -- evolved over time, and its most ambitious and theoretical portions were cast out in favor of a land-based system. The plaque will display this quote from the 1983 speech: "Wouldn't it be better to save lives than to avenge them? Are we not cap able of demonstrating our peaceful intentions by applyi ng all of our abilities and our ingenuity to achieving a truly lasting stability? I think we are indeed. Indeed, we must." href="http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=LOCAL&ID=564712054754246720&Archive=false">http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=LOCAL&ID=564712054754246720&Archive=false