Last week, I mentioned that the Union of Concerned Scientists had prepared a report for the Pentagon concluding that the administration’s missile defense system suffers from a serious flaw: it doesn’t work. According to a UCS technical analysis, there is “no basis for believing the [missile defense] system will have any capability to defend against a real attack.”
The bad news for the failed program just keeps getting worse. The nonpartisan General Accounting Office will release a report this afternoon concluding that the government is paying twice as much as advertised for a useless project that doesn’t work.
[T]he audit by the General Accounting Office cites a history of technical troubles and schedule delays that have plagued the program. The GAO report, to be released today, also calls into question the ultimate usefulness of the planned system.
The $2 billion spent on the program from inception in 1996 to 2003 is double the initial estimate, the report says, adding that more cost overruns are likely. The Pentagon plans to spend an additional $3.1 billion from fiscal 2004 through 2009.
What was that definition of “insanity”? I think it was something about making the same mistake over and over again while expecting a different result.
Keep in mind, the White House is still committed use this system this year. It would be funny if it weren’t so ridiculous.
At least a few lawmakers have the good sense to recognize reality.
“The General Accounting Office’s findings are truly astounding,” said Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), who requested the study along with Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). “They call into question whether or not it makes sense for Congress to continue funding this program at the requested level — especially in this era of tight budgets.”
And yet, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency — which the UCS said is relying on data picked “out of thin air” — remains determined.
In recent testimony to Congress and statements to reporters, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, who heads the Missile Defense Agency, has acknowledged problems with the laser project but argued strongly for proceeding with it, given the big payoff if it works. In a restructuring of the program earlier this year, Kadish decided to delay purchase of a second aircraft and concentrate on two aspects: developing an optics system and demonstrating, in ground tests, that individual laser modules can be combined to generate a single laser beam.
“Once we accomplish those two things, I’ll be able to tell you when we can do the rest,” he told a group of journalists last month.
The message seems to be that we should keep throwing billions of dollars at this until, at some unspecific point on some unspecified day, they figure out how to make this impossible thing work. It doesn’t sound like much of a plan.