United States Representative George E. Brown, Jr. (D-CA) was quoted as voicing his support for planetary defense projects in "Air & Space Power Chronicles", saying "If some day in the future we discover well in advance that an asteroid that is big enough to cause a mass extinction is going to hit the Earth, and then we alter the course of that asteroid so that it does not hit us, it will be one of the most important accomplishments in all of human history."