Skeptics of missile defense should take note of Russia’s paranoia about the U.S. missile defense in Europe.

The key question is whether the intelligence has really changed to give the U.S. more breathing space, or anxious to placate the Russians and trim costs, the President and the Pentagon are simply putting a different spin on the same intelligence to support the policy they now want to pursue.

Okay, I’ve now examined the details of the new U.S. missile defense strategy and have concluded this is NOT a “shelving” or “scuttling” of European missile defenses, as was widely characterized in reports this morning.

“I don’t think we should take the foot off the accelerator, Jamie,” Keating told me. “I think that we are on a path that provides significantly increased security for the United States and its citizens, and increasingly our friends and allies.”