One of the most prestigious universities in America, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said yesterday that it had begun an inquiry into claims that its scientists had covered up evidence of critical problems with President Bush’s proposed national missile defence system.
The outcome of the inquiry could be damaging to the administration, which has built its defence strategy around the $238-billion missile defence scheme, using rockets to knock incoming missiles out of the sky, and is trying to persuade the Blair government to allow interceptor rockets to be based in Britain.
Last month the president ordered the first phase of the system to be built, with the aim of having 10 interceptors ready for action in Alaska by next year. The announcement was made to a bitter controversy about whether the system will work, and the MIT inquiry is at the heart of that debate.
The case involves one of the early contractors on the scheme, TRW, which built a sensor which was supposed to enable the interceptor to locate and destroy missiles.
Six years ago, one of the company’s senior engineers, Nira Schwartz, said it had covered up the sensor’s inability to spot decoys, and that her attempt to blow the whistle had led to her being dismissed.
An investigation was ordered in 1998, overseen by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, and involving two of the laboratory’s scientists. It concluded that TRW had done nothing wrong.
But another MIT scientist, Theodore Postol, claimed that the investigation was misleading and based on manipulated data. He has led a campaign to reopen the case and was backed last year by a congressional report which said TRW’s claims were ”highly misleading” and the 1998 investigation had relied on TRW’s own data.
A statement by the university yesterday said: ”MIT asked a senior faculty member to conduct an inquiry into Professor Postol’s allegations.
”This process is complete, and a report on the inquiry was delivered to the Provost this week. After reviewing the report, the Provost will determine what additional steps to take.”
Postol said yesterday: ”I don’t believe they’re serious. They’re reacting to public pressure from the press.”
”MIT has been plagued over the last decade with a corporate leadership that has a culture of negligence, lying and intimidation. Their concern is only focused on raising money, and the Lincoln Laboratory provides tens of millions of revenue every year.”
The laboratory receives much of its funding from the Pentagon’s missile defence arm.
Pentagon officials said the TRW case had become irrelevant since it lost its bid to build the interceptor four years ago to a rival contractor, Raytheon.
Postol argues that the technical problems dogging the interceptor sensor remain the same, and that the administration is proceeding on the false premise that it worked. He said recent tests had been redesigned to make it much easier for the interceptors to hit the incoming missile.
”Its absolutely critical and absolutely relevant,” he said. – Guardian Unlimited Â