Alas I was not the first I thought I was the first to use the expression "Maginot Line of the 21st century", but I was mistaken. A google search revealed a prior mention. In this link I quote the then British foreign secratary: "Geoffrey Howe, in a speech on 15 March 1985, argued that 'there would be no advantage in creating a new Maginot line of the twenty-first century, liable to be outflanked by relatively simpler and demonstrably cheaper countermeasures... The allies must ask whether the enormous funds to be devoted to such systems might be better employed on other forms of deterrence' (quoted in de Montbrial 1986: 510)." What's true then still applied now.