Posted on 02/27/2003 2:31:58 AM PST by kattracks
ASHINGTON, Feb. 26 ? The Pentagon wants to begin deploying its missile defense system on the West Coast next year, before it is fully tested, an idea that has drawn fire from several Democratic lawmakers.
The request to skip the required testing regimen, included in an appendix to the Bush administration's 2004 budget, is necessary to meet President Bush's goal of having the first missiles in place beginning next year, defense officials said. At a Senate hearing on Feb. 13, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that a missile threat from North Korea warranted the quick deployment and that the Pentagon often learns how to improve weapons systems by simply using them.
"I happen to think that thinking we cannot deploy something until you have everything perfect, every `i' dotted and every `t' crossed, is probably not a good idea," Mr. Rumsfeld told members of the Armed Services Committee. "In the case of missile defense, I think we need to get something out there, in the ground, at sea, and in a way that we can test it, we can look at it, we can develop it, we can evolve it, and find out ? learn from the experimentation with it."
The system is designed to intercept and destroy incoming ballistic missiles, and it has been the subject of heated debate on Capitol Hill since it was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan. Opponents have long argued that the system is too unreliable to justify its cost, but President Bush has firmly supported the plan and late last year ordered a limited deployment. Normally, that deployment would be covered by a law that requires the Defense Department to conduct operational testing before putting a weapons system into production.
But in its budget request, the White House included a short paragraph asking that the actual deployment of the first missiles next year be considered part of the development and demonstration of the system, rather than its actual use. The change, which is subject to Congressional approval, would eliminate the testing requirement for 2004 and 2005, but the requirement would be reimposed in the following years.
The proposal, first publicized last week by the online magazine Slate, has angered several Capitol Hill Democrats, who have cited the repeated technical failures of the missile program over the years.
"Given the potential cost of a failure of missile defense, I believe that, if anything, it should be required to meet more stringent test standards than normally required," wrote Senator Dianne Feinstein of California to Mr. Rumsfeld last week. "I believe that the Department of Defense should strive to increase testing, including realistic challenges of the system's ability to work under real world conditions and ensure that the current system failures are corrected before deployment."
In December, President Bush announced that the international threats facing the United States justified a deployment of the first missiles in the program beginning next year. Under the plan he unveiled, 16 missile interceptors would be installed at Fort Greely, Alaska, with four more at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Up to 20 sea-based missiles would be installed on existing Aegis ships.
At the time, Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency, acknowledged that his agency would essentially be taking its research program and making it operational, working out the kinks along the way. Mr. Rumsfeld, elaborating on the idea at the Senate hearing, said he would like to have the system in place while it is being tested, given the potential threat from a nuclear-armed North Korea.
But Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the shortcut would be a mistake and would violate a requirement for pretesting weapons that many in Congress fought hard to achieve in 1983 over the Pentagon's objections.
"It will allow them to avoid the testing, which could show the weakness or inadequacies of the system," Mr. Levin said. "It would be a lot better if we have confidence that the system will work before it is deployed, because otherwise it just creates a lot more uncertainty."
Since the argument posited is about reliability and not about the potential geopolitical concerns of deployment, it is clear that Senator Feinstein would rather risk her constituents than be seen as cooperating with the administration.
-Links for Missile Defense- Nuke News--
-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--
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