President George W. Bush's controversial order to deploy a land-based ballistic missile defense in 2002, following the unilateral abrogation of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile [ABM] Treaty, did not end five decades of debate. Indeed, not only were old issues revisited but new ones arose, especially given the Bush administration's efforts to extend America's ballistic missile defense (BMD) network to Central and Eastern Europe. Nor did the Bush administration's efforts to use the new BMD system as a deterrent succeed in persuading the so-called rogue states of North Korea and Iran to halt their development of missiles or nuclear activities. This account reviews the Bush BMD deployment after its first eight years and introduces the manner in which his successor, President Barack Obama, has sought to deal with the continuing issues.