Missile Defense Agency Faulted On Testing and Accountability (washingtonpost.com): "A congressional audit of the Bush administration's efforts to build a nationwide defense against ballistic missile attack warned yesterday that the system, due to be fielded later this year, will be 'largely unproven' because of a lack of realistic testing.
The report, by the General Accounting Office, said that the eight flight intercepts attempted so far have been largely 'repetitive and scripted,' and that critical parts of the system have yet to be flight-tested together.
Some elements that were to be part of the initial deployment phase have been deferred because of developmental glitches and production delays, the report noted. Nevertheless, the cost in 2004 and 2005 for developing and fielding the initial system -- which is to include 20 missile interceptors and several ground- and sea-based radars -- rose by $1.12 billion, to $7.36 billion, over the past year, the report disclosed.
Some of the report's sharpest criticisms were reserved for how the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has accounted for its activities. The report faulted the agency for frequently shifting goals and providing incomplete information about costs and performance to Congress.
The report's title -- 'Actions Are Needed to Enhance Testing and Accountability' -- summed up GAO concerns.
A number of the report's findings echo earlier reviews by the GAO and others, but the study represents the most extensive assessment so far by the agency, an investigative branch of Congress. It comes as the Pentagon is preparing to start lowering the first interceptor missiles into newly built silos in Alaska and California and declare the system operational during the summer or autumn. "
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