The Costly Failure of Missile Defense

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/175449/costly-failure-missile-defense#axzz2aNOIp33s


Nuclear missile silo. (Courtesy of Flickr user Steve Jurvetson)

Never mind that no one is firing ICBMs at us. It’s been three decades since Ronald Reagan cooked up his cockamamie plan to shoot down missiles in the sky, and while technology has improved incalculably since then, after countless billions of dollars—according to The New York Times, it’s $250 billion—the damn things still don’t work.

Last week, following yet another failure, and as if it just occurred to him, the director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency—yes, it has a whole “agency”—said that he’d look into it:

Following recent testing failures, the director of the Missile Defense Agency told Congress today that he is committed to a full evaluation of the way forward for the nation’s ballistic missile defense system.

Of course, he added, the evaluation will cost money, too.



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[Vinnie From Indy]

1. It's not a failure when the "contractors" still get paid.

It really is not about defense anymore. It is about former military and government officials grabbing as many millions as possible by starting private contracting firms.

[Orrex]

4. That's it exactly

As a concept, "missile defense" has been and continues to be an astonishing and overwhelming success, because its primary purpose all along has been to funnel billions to contractors. In this regard it has exceeded every expectation.

The program is in no way a failure except to those who believe that it was ever intended as a functioning defense platform.

[earthside]

2. The U.S. military gravy train.

Things like 'missile defense' are just a massive transfer of wealth program from working and middle class taxpayers to corporate contractors and the retired officers corps.

It is not about defending the U.S. from attack -- these programs are all about politics, they are jobs programs and subsidy programs for virtually every Congressional district.

The sums of money are staggering.

You can sign-up to receive a daily or weekly listing of military contracts that are let each day over $6.5 million: http://www.defense.gov/contracts/

You will probably not be surprised, but still it boggles the mind just how much money is spent five days a week every week for all kinds of non-essential stuff.

And we wonder why the rich are getting richer and our infrastructure is falling apart.

[bemildred]

3. A very typicsl case of "faith-based" military development. nt