Missile Defense Agency Hosts War Games for Congress

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency this week is hosting war games for members of Congress, Reuters reported (see GSN, Jan. 20).

One simulation yesterday involved missile launches by a fictional country named “Midland” that targeted Japan, South Korea and the United States. The United States fired nine interceptors; one failed to launch, resulting in a nuclear strike on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

John Isaacs, policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, said the war games were aimed at bolstering lawmakers’ support for a “program that is seriously in trouble.”

“If the war games were realistic, an awful lot of the missiles would not get off the ground,” Isaacs said.

Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) expressed support for the system despite repeated intercept test failures in recent years.

“This is tough technology,” he said.

Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said he did not know when U.S. Strategic Command would put the system on alert. The system had been scheduled to be designated ready for military use in 2005.

“It could be available in the event of an emergency, but until all the training and procedures are completed, it’s not ready for 24/7 alert status,” Lehner said (Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Jan. 24).