The
Missile Defense Agency (
MDA) is the section of the
United States government's Department of Defense responsible for developing a layered
defense against
ballistic missiles. The agency has its origins in the
Strategic Defense Initiative, which was established in 1983 and was headed by
Lt. General James Alan Abrahamson. Under the Strategic Defense Initiative's Innovative Sciences and Technology Office, headed by physicist and engineer Dr. James Lonson
[1] the investment was predominantly made in basic research at national laboratories, universities, and in industry; these programs have continued to be key sources of funding for top research scientists in the fields of high-energy physics, supercomputing/computation, advanced materials, and many other critical science and engineering disciplines — funding which indirectly supports other research work by top scientists, and which was most politically viable to fund within the Military budget of the United States environment. It was renamed the
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in 1993, and then renamed the Missile Defense Agency in 2002. See
United States national missile defense for the history of DoD missile defense programs. The current commander is U.S. Navy Vice Admiral James D. Syring.