Home | Commentary | News | Forum | The Loft | Online Activist | State News | Resources | Classifieds Subscribe | Mobile | RSS | Contact
E-mail this story to a friend
Have comments? Send them to the editor.
Printer Friendly Version
Subscribe for Free!
Lawmakers Scrutinize Missile Shield
By DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press
March 4, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Democrats are taking a closer look at the U.S. missile defense program, partly in an effort to pare down its high price tag.

The Democrats are raising questions about the effectiveness of the anti-missile program and investigating whether its testing regimen is realistic enough to demonstrate its capabilities against real attacks. Critics have long contended that the program's tests are too predictable.

The scrutiny comes as the United States is at a sensitive moment in negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic to build part of its shield on their territory. Lawmakers are questioning the security value of those plans against stark opposition from Russia.

Rep. John Tierney said he intends, during hearings beginning Wednesday, to raise the question of whether Congress should continue present funding levels for what congressional auditors call the most expensive U.S. defense program.

''We should explore the idea of slowing the funding on this thing until we know it is going in the right direction,'' said Tierney, D-Mass., a longtime skeptic of missile defense. He chairs a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is planning to hold three to five hearings on the subject.

A spokesman for the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency, Rick Lehner, said that scrutiny is nothing new and the agency welcomes the opportunity to provide testimony by top officials, including its chief, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering III.

''We meet with lawmakers and staff almost every week,'' Lehner says. ''This is probably the most scrutinized program within the Department of Defense.''

Advocates of missile defense argue that the shield is necessary to counter the power that countries like Iran and North Korea would have to threaten the United States and its allies should they develop long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear, biological or chemical warheads.

Some have pointed to the recent use of modified missile defense interceptors to destroy a damaged U.S. satellite as a sign of the program's progress, although U.S. officials denied the interception was a test and critics say the satellite was a far easier target than a warhead would be.

Tierney's first hearing on Wednesday will look at the threat the United States and allies face from ballistic missiles. A second hearing in early March is aimed at evaluating the costs of the program.

Tierney said he hopes to touch on U.S. plans to install a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptors in Poland as part of the system intended to extend the shield to Europe.

Those plans have been a source of intense friction with Russia, which opposes the move to base the radar and interceptors so close to its borders and contends the move is aimed at undermining the deterrent from its nuclear arsenal. It has even threatened to target missiles on Poland if the plan is put into force.

>> Continued -- Page 1 2

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

++ Check out the GOPUSA home page for the latest information.

Last Updated:
Saturday 10:16 am EDT



Not a member? Click here.
Palin resigning as Alaska governor by FiOS Dan
Palin resigning as Alaska governor by qrayjack
Palin resigning as Alaska governor by Paulmarkar
July 4th Weekend in the Precinct by Im4atbrka
Discuss Issues in the Forum

Action Alerts
Action Alert: Hands Off My Health Care Decisions!

Legislation and Votes
Roll Call Vote - Cap & Trade Bill on passage
H.R. 2454 - Cap and Trade Bill
House Roll Call Vote To permit citizen defense by the carrying of loaded firearms in national parks
Roll Call Vote - Coburn Amdt. No. 1067; To protect innocent Americans from violent crime in national parks and refuges.
Roll Call Vote - Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Grassroots Survey Team
View recent survey results
Join the survey team!



GOPUSA Cartoons
Click here!

++ Help the RNC fight Obama and ABC News!

++ The Future of The Republican Party, tell us what YOU Think!

++ ACLU Terrified by Reprint of 140-yr-old Book