House Panel to Dump $250 Million on Flawed, Unwanted Missile Defense Site

On the radar: Unproven, unwanted, unaffordable; “Buy before you study before you fly”; Nukes in the NDAA; Latest on Iran sanctions; and Science tourism at the Trinity site.

June 4, 2013 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Alyssa Demus

East Coast missile defense waste - Some in Congress want to throw $250 million at a new missile defense site that could end up costing taxpayers $3.6 billion or more. “The proposal is premature at best and could actually harm America’s national security by denying resources to other more urgently needed and more effective defense programs,” writes The New York Times editorial board.

--While Pentagon officials said that the extra cash is unneeded and existing missile defense sites are enough, experts remain concerned about the missile defense system as a whole. In the past year and a half, two studies have determined the program is rife with serious technical issues. “Among the most problematic and persistent is the failure to design an interceptor missile that can distinguish between an actual enemy warhead and the debris, decoys and other countermeasures that an adversary would use to divert the interceptor from its target,” notes the Times.

--“A case has not been made for another [missile defense] site and given the flaws in the missile defense program — which all told has cost an estimated $250 billion — the focus should be on acknowledging the problems and developing reliable technologies to fix them.” Full editorial here. http://owl.li/lH3NH

Wasteful and unwanted - “The truth is that expanding the current ground based midcourse defense system to the East Coast is unnecessary, technically dubious, and cost-ineffective,” writes Kingston Reif. “The head of the Missile Defense Agency has told Congress that $250 million for an East Coast site would be of no use at this time, since it has only just begun to study the concept.” Still, Republicans in the House intend to add a quarter-billion dollars for the project in their version of the defense authorization bill.

--Reif explains the midcourse system’s crippling technical flaws and why the system’s advocates in the Pentagon do not want the money. Full post in TIME. http://ti.me/14sibO2

See Also:

--“Congress cannot continue to throw taxpayer money down the drain on programs that do not work and the military does not want.” Letter to the editor in The Washington Times from Kingston Reif. http://bit.ly/14slBAm

--”The Fundamental Fallacies of Long-Range Missile Defense” by John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World. http://bit.ly/11phMOl

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Nukes up, nonpro down - House Republicans’ draft of the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act would support the Obama administration’s funding cuts to nonproliferation programs and include an additional $200 million for nuclear weapons.

--The draft is already drawing criticism from Democrats. Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA), “complained that the draft bill denies funding for nuclear weapons reductions, ‘even as the United States and Russia continue to possess over 90 percent of the nuclear weapons worldwide,’” notes Douglas Guarino at Global Security Newswire. The House Armed Services Committee will mark up the bill tomorrow. http://owl.li/lHa79

--View the Chairman’s Mark of the FY14 National Defense Authorization Act here. (pdf) http://1.usa.gov/13CTBuX

Report - ”Are Sanctions on Iran Working?” by Laicie Heeley and Usha Sahay of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. (pdf) http://bit.ly/17lsV75

Latest sanctions - The Obama administration implemented a new round of sanctions on Iran that would authorize the imposition of sanctions on financial institutions that conduct transactions in Iranian rial. The latest round also sanctions Iran’s auto industry. See The Iran Primer’s backgrounder on the new sanctions. http://bit.ly/14dTIPR

Tweet - @FAScientists: SIPRI 2013 Yearbook now available featuring overview of world's nuclear forces by FAS's Hans Kristensen. http://t.co/DO6ryJh2fQ

Tweet - @TheEconomist: #Dailychart: Today's chart on nuclear weapons shows the world's estimated number of warheads. econ.st/17SHVKA

Speed read -

--”Russia to send nuclear submarines to southern seas” by Alexei Anishchuk for Reuters. http://reut.rs/13iNJYR

--”U.N. nuclear investigators may no longer find anything if granted access to Iran's Parchin military site, their chief said on Monday, in view of suspected Iranian efforts to remove any traces of illicit atomic activity there.” Full story from Fredrik Dahl at Reuters. http://reut.rs/10LxROK

Not so speedy read -

--”Update on Yongbyon: Restart of Plutonium Production Reactor Nears Completion; Work Continues on the Experimental Light Water Reactor” by Jeffrey Lewis and Nick Hansen for 38 North. http://bit.ly/10NZNSf

Events:

--House Armed Services Committee, markup of the defense authorization bill, H.R. 1960, which includes the nuclear weapons and nuclear nonproliferation programs of NNSA. June 5, 10:00 am. Webcast here. http://owl.li/lsGRO

--Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, hearing on the Missile Defense Agency budget, with Vice Adm. James Syring, Director, Missile Defense Agency. June 5, 10:00 am. Webcast here. http://owl.li/lsHgp

--"Missiles in South Asia: Deterrence Stability on the Subcontinent.” Rob Williams and Dinshaw Mistry. June 5 12:30-2:30 pm @ Stimson Center. Details here. http://owl.li/lsHBz

--”Ballistic Missile Defense- Technical, Strategic and Arms Control Challenges.” Discussion with Phil Coyle, George Lewis, Bruce MacDonald, Pierce Corden, and Charles Ferguson to moderate. June 6th from 4:45-7:00pm at AAAS, reception to follow. Details here. http://bit.ly/188gZ90

--June 10th is the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s commencement address at American University, where he called for banning nuclear testing. http://bit.ly/18J6Ugk

--”The Implications of the NPT Regime for Nonproliferation.” Speech by Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman. June 18, 9:00 am @ Elliott School of International Affairs. RSVP and details here. http://owl.li/lH9Ks

Desert:

Trinity’s remnants - The Trinity nuclear test site - where the U.S. tested the world’s first nuclear explosion - is open to the public twice a year. Each time, thousands of people arrive to view the site and explore it, geiger counters in hand.

--Devin Powell visited the Trinity site, got his small dose of radiation and discussed the work of physicists that analyze the radioactive, glassified sand that remains at the site to this day. Full article in The Washington Post. http://wapo.st/10W2CgF

--Infographic on the Trinity test: “A flash of light, then an explosion” http://wapo.st/11iyGLt