by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 16, 2004
All Rights Reserved.

otching another test of the national missile defense system, the Pentagon had more excuses for its costly boondoggle. Costing $85-million, the aborted test included a disabled “kill vehicle” that never lifted off. Ever since the late President Ronald Reagan announced the “Star Wars” missile defense shield in 1981, the program hasn't emerged from the ranks of science fiction. Reagan's missile defense program might be the world's biggest bluff, helping topple the old U.S.S.R., leading to the eventual collapse of the Berlin Wall. Far from reality, Reagan's original concept involved rendering nuclear weapons obsolete by developing an elaborate space-based intercept for incoming missiles. Though viewed as provocative, Reagan offered to share “Star Wars” technology with Mikhail Gorbachev. “Star Wars” was put in mothballs until President George W. Bush resuscitated it in May 2001.

      Bush hoped to have an operational missile defense system by the end of 2004. With the latest failure, national missile defense has an uncertain future. It's easy talking about the latest mishap as a minor glitch. Years of failed experiments say otherwise. Calling the recent glitch a technical error doesn't take into account the cumulated bad news over the last 23 years. Since Sept. 11, Bush gave the “Star Wars” missile defense shield added urgency, arguing that it's just a matter of time before rogue nations, like Iran and North Korea, have Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM] capability. Yet today's terrorist threats stem not from ballistic missiles but from asymmetric warfare. Reviving “Star Wars” caused Russia to escalate its nuclear program. Putin just announced the deployment of a new, more mobile nuclear weapon, making “Star Wars” obsolete.

      Since getting attacked by Osama bin Laden on Sept. 11, the U.S. has been at war with radical Islam. No rogue state, or, for that matter, an old nemesis like Russia, has attacked the U.S. Iran and North Korea impose the biggest threats. Few people trust religious despot Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to end Iran's nuclear weapons' programs, including warheads and ballistic missiles capable of decimating any country in the Middle East. After getting duped by the U.S. over Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, Europeans, including key members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, no longer believe warnings about Iran. Iran's foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi said it's a fait accompli that Iran will join the “nuclear club.” He's not referring to commercial use. Placed in the context of Iran's nuclear ambitions, “Star Wars” still makes sense.

      Having already spent an estimated $130 billion, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency will no doubt ask for more. Russia's new mobile-version Topal-M ballistic missile hopes to render “Star Wars” ineffective. “I am sure that . . . they will be put in service with the next few years and, what is more, they will be developments of the kind that other nuclear powers do not and will not have,” Russian President Vladimir I. Putin told the ITAR-Tass news agency. Russian military officials have already promised that such a weapons would make the “Star Wars” system irrelevant. Putin's remarks can only be interpreted in the context of clever public relations. Boasting about new developments puts would be aggressors on notice not to mess with Russia. By the same token, well-publicized failures in the “Star Wars” program invite unwelcome perceptions of U.S. vulnerability.

      Chicago-based Boeing Co. shudders at the thought that the “Star Wars” program hasn't succeeded and might get cut. Boeing currently has over 500 engineers working on the project at Anaheim-based Ratheon Co., building cybernetic devices, including sensors, radar and targeting equipment. If “Star Wars” gets enough bad press, Congress might pull the plug on its funding. In the latest mishap, an interceptor “kill vehicle,” failed to take off from Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific. “The performance of these systems cannot support these inflated budgets . . .” said Joseph Ciricione of the Carnegie Foundation, a Washington-based non-profit, criticizing “Star Wars” for delivering bad results. “We weren't able to complete the test that we had planned,” said Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

      For nearly 25 years the promise of “Star Wars” hasn't been redeemed. In a post-Sept. 11 world there's nothing wrong with developing a credible nuclear deterrent. But unlike the old Cold War days, there's a growing risk that a rogue states like Iran and North Korea might have the capability to strike U.S. targets. Mutual Assured Destruction kept more rational societies, like Russia, from a nuclear exchange. If “Star Wars” stays science fiction, then the U.S. must develop a credible nuclear deterrent, including a preemptive attack. “I definitely wouldn't categorize it as a setback of any kind . . . said Lehner, hoping to control the damage from another big disappointment. With Iran and North Korea getting dangerously close to nuclear capability, it's no time for more excuses. Whether “Star Wars” worked in the past is anyone's guess--it's no guarantee it works now or in the future.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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