Editing Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (section)

==History==
BMDO evolved from the SAFEGUARD System Organization.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}} The original mission of BMDO was comparable to that of SAFEGUARD, which was to defend  U.S. ballistic missile sites, but BMDO  additionally had the more general role of conducting research and development in advanced ballistic missile defense (BMD) technology and  also managed what was then called the [[Kwajalein Missile Range]] (KMR).<ref name='Bernstein2003 Chap III p86'>{{harv|Bernstein|Lang|2003|loc=Chpt. III, p. 86}}</ref> In July 1984, BMDO became a part of the [[Strategic Defense Initiative Organization]] (SDIO) and one year later BMDO was renamed the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command.<ref name='Bernstein2003 Chap III 106'>{{harv|Bernstein|Lang|2003|loc=Chpt. III, p. 106}}</ref>

The name "Ballistic Missile Defense Organization" (BMDO) came back into use in 1993 when SDIO was renamed BMDO  by the administration of President [[Bill Clinton]]  and this was accompanied by a shift in emphasis from national missile defense to theater missile defense, i.e. from global to regional coverage. 
In 1998, focus shifted back to national missile defense when Defense secretary [[William Cohen]] proposed spending an additional $6.6 billion on ballistic missile defense programs to build a national system to protect against attacks from North Korea or accidental launches from Russia or China.<ref name='Farnsworth1999'>{{cite web | url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june99/nmd_1-28a.html | title = A VIABLE DEFENSE? | access-date = 2010-12-31 | last = Farnsworth | first = Elizabeth | date = 1999-01-28 | work = Online NewsHour | publisher = MacNeil/Lehrer Productions| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110127132413/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june99/nmd_1-28a.html| archive-date= 27 January 2011 <!--DASHBot-->|url-status = live}}</ref>

BMDO became better known in the public eye in 1994 when it launched a space probe, [[Clementine mission|Clementine]], to the [[Moon]], in collaboration with [[NASA]]. BMDO was primarily interested in field testing new satellite and space reconnaissance technologies incorporated in Clementine, technologies which enabled Clementine to discover pockets of ice at the Moon's south pole.

BMDO was renamed the [[Missile Defense Agency]] in 2002 by the administration of President [[George W. Bush]].