Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said U.S. missile defenses have a "high probability" of taking out any incoming North Korean missiles.

"I have confidence that if North Korea launched a long-range missile in the direction of the United States, that we would have a high probability of being able to fend ourselves against it," he stated.

Gates made his comment in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee (SAC-D).

The SAC-D panel is weighing President Obama’s defense budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010. It calls for cutting the number of interceptor silos emplaced in the ground at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 30, rather than the earlier-projected 44.

Several members of Congress have criticized that plan, saying a rising missile threat means missile defense must not be cut. (Please see separate stories in this issue.) But Gates defended the move.

"The judgment and the advice that I got was that the 30 silos that we have now, or are under construction, are fully adequate to protect us against a North Korean threat for a number of years," and the remaining 14 silos could be emplaced in the ground quickly if the North Korean threat evolves further.

His comments came as North Korea has detonated a nuclear bomb underground and may do so again, and as Pyongyang is launching missiles, including the long-range Taepo Dong-2. Another launch of that weapon is expected soon.

"If the circumstances should change in a way that leads people to believe that we need more interceptors than the 30, then there’s plenty of room at Fort Greely to expand," according to Gates.

While the GMD system is "immensely capable," it still is emergent, he said, where new and more capable interceptors, as they are developed, they can be moved into the GMD system.