GAO Report Doubts Obama’s Missile Defense Plans

It wasn’t so long ago that President Obama scrapped the Bush Administration’s plan for missile defense in Europe, amid complaints that the plan cost far too much and probably wouldn’t work as advertised.

But now the Government Accountability Office has looked at the Obama Administration’s alternative plan, and it is warning that this plan too is likely to face significant cost overruns and, once again, probably won’t work properly.

The new report comes just a week after the administration’s most recent missile defense test, in the Pacific Ocean. The test was a failure. It was an attempt to repeat a January test, which was also a failure.

The US spends roughly $10 billion a year on its missile defense programs, ostensibly to protect itself from Iran, whose missiles can’t reach Europe, let alone North America. That’s probably a good thing, since the defense system doesn’t work anyhow.