ONE FOR MISSILE DEFENSE DENIERS: Merry Christmas, Hawaii: U.S. Missile Defenses Just Improved.

Anyone who dismisses Hawaiians’ fear of attack should revisit the January 2018 false missile-attack alert issued by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. When the agency announced an attack was underway, many Hawaiians panicked. The public fright demonstrated rational people fear nuclear-armed missiles, especially when malign regimes threaten ICBM attacks.

Perhaps dismissive sophisticates have also forgotten the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

The column analyzes the impact of the Missile Defense Agency’s successful November 16 anti-ballistic missile test. In that test an SM-3 Block IIA missile fired by a Navy guided-missile destroyer hit and killed a target ICBM as it plunged toward Hawaii. Plus Christmas and Pearl Harbor!

RELATED: A photo from 2013 of an SM-3 IB interceptor (earlier version) launched from a guided-missile cruiser.