Missile Defense In Place In Alaska, But Will It Work?

The defensive system is so complex some compare it to the effort to build the first atomic bomb. During an attack, a 5-foot-long warhead traveling at 15,000 miles per hour must be identified, tracked and demolished by a collision 150 miles above Earth. A near interception equals failure. In congressional testimony and news conferences, White House and Pentagon officials have made confusing, sometimes contradictory statements about the status of the embryonic missile-defense system. And in the past year, both interceptor test flights failed. The malfunctions and costs — roughly $31.6 billion between 1996 and 2011, with no final price tag — lead critics to assail missile defense as a limitless research program that doesn't give the president a viable option in time of crisis. Whether the interceptors are considered functional or experimental doesn't make much difference to the Defense Department. Today, workers are busy on the second missile field, putting into the ground 10 more interceptors by year's end. On-again, off-again "Later this year, the first components of America's missile defense will become operational." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002386083&zsection_id=2002111777&slug=starwars17m&date=20050717 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 19, 2005]

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