by Robert G. Gard
The Bush Administration will soon deploy the first stages of a Missile Defense system designed to protect the United States from a ballistic missile attack. But today, during a press conference unveiling “An Open Letter to President Bush,” the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation criticized the deployment of “a system that doesn’t work to protect us against a threat that is very unlikely.” The complete missile defense system — the first stages of which are to be deployed this year – will cost the American taxpayer upwards of $10.2 billion during Fiscal Year 2005, and as much as $1.2 trillion by 2035. The “Open Letter” is signed by nearly fifty retired senior military officers, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral William Crowe, Air Force General Alfred Hansen and Marine Corps General Joseph Hoar.
“We’re asking the Pentagon to follow its own well-established policy: thoroughly testing a system before it is deployed to ensure that it works. The truth is, there as yet are not even plans for operational testing,” retired Lt. General Robert C. Gard, Jr., who serves as the Center’s senior military fellow, observed. The Center’s Senior Associate for Policy, John Isaacs, noted that the system “hasn’t really undergone any realistic testing in realistic conditions” and that the money proposed for its deployment could be better spent by ensuring that the system’s technology works before the administration claims success. “If some of the technological obstacles can be overcome prior to deployment the American people will be better served,” Isaacs said. “Right now it looks as if the Bush administration is deploying this system simply to say that they have done it. They’re saying that the American people are protected. Well, they’re not.”
The announcement of the public release of the Open Letter is the culmination of an eight month intensive study of the planned deployment by the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. The Center began actively briefing senior retired military officers to discuss their views on national missile defense over the course of the last six months. This was followed by the drafting and circulation of the Open Letter. “We are gratified that the military community has been an integral part of our discussions,” Beth C. DeGrasse, the Executive Director of the Center for Arms Control stated. “Their comments were insightful, their views outspoken, their concern for the security of our nation unquestioned. To ignore their views as somehow partisan or prejudiced after their years of sacrifice for their country would be a terrible mistake.”
For further information contact: Mark Perry, 202-216-2244.
A copy of the letter is below. _______________________________________________________________________________
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President:
In December 2002, you ordered the deployment of a ground-based strategic mid-course ballistic missile defense (GMD) capability, now scheduled to become operational before the end of September 2004. You explained that its purpose is to defend our nation against rogue states that may attack us with a single or a limited number of ballistic missiles armed with weapons of mass destruction.
To meet this deployment deadline, the Pentagon has waived the operational testing requirements that are essential to determining whether or not this highly complex system of systems is effective and suitable. The Defense Department’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation stated on March 11, 2004, that operational testing is not in the plan “for the foreseeable future.” Moreover, the General Accounting Office pointed out in a recent report that only two of 10 critical technologies of the GMD system components have been verified as workable by adequate developmental testing.
Another important consideration is balancing the high costs of missile defense with funding allocated to other national security programs. Since President Reagan’s strategic defense initiative speech in March 1983, a conservative estimate of about $130 billion, not adjusted upward for inflation, has been spent on missile defense, much of it on GMD. Your Fiscal Year 2005 budget for missile defense is $10.2 billion, with $3.7 billion allocated to GMD. Some $53 billion is programmed for missile defense over the next five years, with much more to follow. Deploying a highly complex weapons system prior to testing it adequately can increase costs significantly.
U.S. technology, already deployed, can pinpoint the source of a ballistic missile launch. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that any state would dare to attack the U.S. or allow a terrorist to do so from its territory with a missile armed with a weapon of mass destruction, thereby risking annihilation from a devastating U.S. retaliatory strike.
As you have said, Mr. President, our highest priority is to prevent terrorists from acquiring and employing weapons of mass destruction. We agree. We therefore recommend, as the militarily responsible course of action, that you postpone operational deployment of the expensive and untested GMD system and transfer the associated funding to accelerated programs to secure the multitude of facilities containing nuclear weapons and materials and to protect our ports and borders against terrorists who may attempt to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States.
Sincerely,
Admiral William J. Crowe (USN, ret.)
General Alfred G. Hansen (USAF, ret.)
General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, ret.)
Lt. General Henry E. Emerson (USA, ret.)
Lt. General Robert G. Gard, Jr. (USA, ret.)
Vice Admiral Carl T. Hanson (USN, ret.)
Lt. General James F. Hollingsworth (USA, ret.)
Lt. General Arlen D. Jameson (USAF, ret.)
Lt. General Robert E. Kelley, (USAF, ret.)
Lt. General John A. Kjellstrom (USA, ret.)
Lt. General Dennis P. McAuliffe (USA, ret.)
Lt. General Charles P. Otstott (USA, ret.)
Lt. General Thomas M. Rienzi (USA, ret.)
Vice Admiral John J. Shanahan (USN, ret.)
Lt. General Dewitt C. Smith, Jr.(USA, ret.)
Lt. General Horace G. Taylor (USA, ret.)
Lt. General James M. Thompson (USA, ret.)
Lt. General Alexander M. Weyand (USA. Ret.)
Major General Robert H. Appleby (AUS, ret.)
Major General James G. Boatner (USA, ret.)
Major General Jack O. Bradshaw (USA, ret.)
Major General Morris J. Brady (USA, ret.)
Major General William F. Burns (USA, ret.)
Rear Admiral William D. Center (USN, ret.)
Major General Albert B. Crawford (USA, ret.)
Major General Maurice O. Edmonds (USA, ret.)
Rear Admiral Robert C. Elliott, (USN, ret.)
Major General John C. Faith (USA, ret.)
Rear Admiral Robert H. Gormley (USN, ret.)
Major General Richard B. Griffitts (USA, ret.)
Major Rear Admiral Charles D. Grojean (USN, ret.)
Major General Raymond E. Haddock (USA, ret.)
Major General Jack R. Holbein, Jr. (USAF, ret.)
Major General Stanley H. Hyman (USA, ret.)
Major General Wayne P. Jackson (USA, ret.)
Major General Frederick H. Lawson (AUS, ret.)
Major General Vincent P. Luchsinger, Jr. (USAF, ret.)
Major General James J. LeCleir (AUS, ret.)
Major General William F. Willoughby (USAF, ret.)
Brig. General George C. Cannon, Jr. (USAF, ret.)
Brig. General John J. Costa (USA, ret.)
Brig. General Alvin E. Cowan (USA, ret.)
Brig. General Lee Denson (USAF, ret.)
Brig. General Evelyn P. Foote (USA, ret.)
Brig. General Leslie R. Forney, Jr. (USA, ret.)
Brig. General John H. Grubbs (USA, ret.)
Brig. General James E. Hastings (USA, ret.)
Brig. General John H. Johns (USA, ret.)
Brig. General Maurice D. Roush (USA, ret.)
