Here are two questions you will not often hear from your average American: How large a threat is Iran’s fictional ICBM arsenal, and what is the Pentagon doing to protect us from this imaginary threat? I am pleased to report our government is working on the answers. They are, in order, “worryingly grave” and “send more money and we’ll get back to you.”
I know this because Portage county has been selected as one of four sites under consideration for a proposed ICBM interceptor site.
I confess that I haven’t kept up with missile defense of late. I knew it had its roots in Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, that it has been wildly expensive over the years (the New York Times estimates $250 billion), that the priority assigned to it has waxed and waned with the fortunes of its political champions, and that it has shown dubious effectiveness. It seemed like one of those zombie defense programs (e.g.) that no amount of failure or bad publicity can kill. But I’m resigned to a certain level of expensive Pentagon boondoggles; as long as they aren’t being used for saber rattling or launching wars I don’t pay close attention.
It turns out, though, that there’s more going on with missile defense than the occasional futile and rigged test:
The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act requires the MDA [Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency] to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate possible additional locations in the U.S. best suited for future deployment of a Continental United States Interceptor Site (CIS) capable of protecting the homeland against threats from nations, such as North Korea and Iran. The existing Ballistic Missile Defense System provides protection of the U.S. from a limited ballistic missile attack, and the Department of Defense has not made a decision to deploy or construct the CIS.
As part of the selection process, the MDA held (PDF) what it called a public scoping meeting in Ravenna on Tuesday to review the EIS.
The MDA had some logo-emblazoned signs in the parking lot directing people to the gym; just outside it was a sign-in table.
Inside the gym was an open house where the public was invited to review placard-sized versions of these slides. There were a great number of spokespeople and uniformed personnel on hand. My rough guess would be one for every two citizens.
There was also a “missile defense is wonderful” video showing on a loop, to make sure the public was scoped in the right direction.
There wasn’t a huge focus on environmental impact, the ostensible reason for the meeting – it seemed more geared towards selling the public on the program. The approach was a little off though. For one, there was no introduction to the subject. It would have been nice if someone from MDA gave an overview of the program, explained why it was vital to national security, what the impact might be locally (both in terms of jobs and environment), and otherwise introduced the topic. Hell, even ODNR gave us a canned presentation – the Pentagon couldn’t do as much? Maybe that was by design, however. As a friend emailed: “In the old days they’d have a public meeting where people were allowed to speak and hear from one another in the community. Now things have changed and they just do an information seminar with displays and pick people off one by one for feedback reducing the ability of citizens to communicate with one another.”
People just went from station to station and talked to MDA representatives.I spoke briefly to one and asked about the repeated failures of the program. He countered that a test in June failed to fail, and said that the failures were actually helpful because they helped to understand what to do next. I then asked how much money had been spent on the program, and he replied that he didn’t know and couldn’t speak to it. He suggested that I was taking at a “whole pie” view, and he was just there to discuss one slice of it. I responded that it looked like the MDA was only presenting the slices that looked tastiest, and it would have been nice to see some concerns addressed as well.
Now, those who work for MDA will obviously be in favor of it. At a very minimum it employs them, so if the MDA went away they would either be transferred or out of a job entirely. It isn’t surprising that they have a positive view of missile defense. But any attempt to generate public support for MDA ought to treat us like grown ups, and be at least a little forthcoming about the problems as well. The “everything is awesome” approach might go over well to those already in favor it, but it won’t persuade anyone who has reservations.
It all seemed like a very lightweight and informal way to treat a proposal that could have such significant consequences. That might be enough though. It already has the vocal support of both of Ohio’s Senators (bipartisanship!) so it doesn’t look like there will be much political resistance to it. It may have all just been a formality. I certainly hope for their sake it was, because as I wrote in a comment (and told a reporter), I came to it skeptical and left opposed. Whether public sentiment matters is something else, of course.