Nice of Mr Coyle to admit that GMD is not justified. Philip Coyle is not just some former member of the US administration. From 1994 to 2001 he was was assistant secretary of defense and director, Operational Test and Evaluation in the DoD and "principal advisor to the secretary of defense on test and evaluation". He is now a senior advisor for the Centre for Defense Information.

The Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program was quick to assist Coyle. Lisbeth Gronlund, UCSUSA's co-director told the same Congressional hearing "the US was no closer to being able to effectively defend against long-range ballistic missiles than it was 25 years ago".