The following Fact Checker email from the Washington Post is dated October 13, 2017:
In discussing the threat posed by North Korea and its rush to perfect an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), President Trump offered a reassuring image: a missile defense so robust that a single interceptor had a 97 percent success rate and just two interceptors would assuredly knock the missile out of the sky. Is this anything close to reality?
Nope. Trump appears to be referring to the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) in Alaska and California, which is administered by the Missile Defense Agency. Some $40 billion has been spent on developing the project, which is supposed to prevent ballistic missiles from attacking the homeland. MDA officials have been optimistic about the program’s effectiveness, tossing around statistics that sound a bit like Trump’s 97 percent figure.
But this is not accurate. The military suggested it has achieved a 97 percent rate when you use four interceptors — not one interceptor. So Trump’s description of a single interceptor having this capability is of base.
Moreover, this appears based on faulty assumptions and overenthusiastic math. The odds of success under the most ideal conditions are no better than 50-50, and likely worse. The president speaks with confidence, but descends into hyperbole. No single interceptor for ICBMs has a 97 percent rate. We award Four Pinocchios.
President Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims over 263 days — averaging 5 a day.
We have now completed two-thirds of our year-long project analyzing, categorizing and tracking every false or misleading claim by Trump, as well as his flip-flops. As of our latest update on Wednesday, Oct. 10, or his 264th day in office, the president has made 1,318 claims over 263 days. He has averaged five claims a day, even picking up pace since the six-month mark. (See the interactive graphic here.)