Risky Missile Defense

The Bush administration’s decision to deploy the first phase of a ground-based missile defense system by October 2004 means some of the technology will be deployed with limited or no testing, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report. The hurry-up nature of missile defense deployment, the report said, could result in technical failures and increased costs.

The report, Additional Knowledge Needed in Developing System for Intercepting Long-Range Missiles , is most critical of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) decision to adapt the existing Cobra Dane early warning radar in Alaska to be the key tracking radar for shooting down incoming missiles. Tracking missiles is more demanding than simply providing early warning of an attack, and a host of software changes to Cobra Dane are being developed without real-world testing, the report says. “If failures ensue,” the Pentagon “may have to spend additional funds in an attempt to identify and correct problems by September 2004 or accept a less capable system,” according to the report.

The GAO, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, created the report at the request of Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), a member of the Armed Services Committee. “If the radar does not work,” he said, “the system will not be able to intercept incoming missiles. MDA has no plans to use the radar in an intercept test.” MDA officials told GAO investigators they hope to test the radar by tracking “targets of opportunity”—foreign missiles that happen to come within the radar system’s range.