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Rumsfeld likes to quote a fellow Chicagoan on the efficacy of arms. "You get a lot more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone," Al Capone used to say. Rumsfeld retools the gangster's words for the post-cold war world. "You can substitute 'ballistic missile' for the word gun--and put in the names of some regional Al Capones--and it is every bit as appropriate today," he says. But even if a missile shield works, critics fear it will destabilize current alliances and trigger arms buildups by America's enemies. Back home, the Pentagon dreads that the program will siphon money from its more cherished programs. Rumsfeld's challenge is to build a missile defense in the face of suspicion from allies, from enemies and from the bureaucracy he will lead.
--By Mark Thompson/Washington