Speaker criticizes missile defense system

By Russ Brickey
Staff Writer

As if orchestrated by a Pentagon conspiracy, physics colloquium guest speaker Theodore Postol stepped to the fore of an overflowing classroom in the Physics Building Thursday afternoon, and the lights went out.

Postol's talk, "Science, Technology, and Attack Tactics Relevant to National Missile Defense Systems," was only briefly interrupted by the power outage, and Postol himself seemed undaunted by the occurrence.

This is in character with a man who has gained national headlines and Pentagon ire for speaking out about a missile defense system that has been plagued by failures and even outright fraud, according to Postol.

Describing the current United States' program for missile defense as "political utility rather than scientific reality," Postol spoke for over an hour on the topic and entertained questions from the audience.

The current system under development — called a "hit to kill" system because it attempts to strike a warhead while in orbit like a bullet, rather than exploding like shrapnel — would cost perhaps "hundreds of billions" to build.

According to Postol, the system cannot possibly work because of the "kill vehicle," the device that would actually strike the warhead.

The "kill vehicle" would only have a brief window of time (perhaps 60 to 90 seconds) to find the warhead, while moving at tremendous speeds of perhaps 10 kilometers per second.

Postol used actual photographs from missile defense tests, officially "classified" documents that are readily available on the Internet, to demonstrate his point.

"Now you're all subject to the same laws that I am," joked Postol, referring to his own allegations that Pentagon officials attempted to intimidate him.

The system uses an infrared camera that is unable to distinguish between decoys, pieces of the launch missile and the warhead.

"The problem of discrimination (between the warhead and other objects in space) is fundamentally unsolvable," said Postol.

According to Postol's photographs, the mock-warhead used in the tests, and a simple balloon used as a decoy, appeared as nothing more than blurs when the kill vehicle "opened its eyes." This means that simply painting a decoy a different color, so it appears brighter in space, will fool the infrared camera on a kill vehicle, said Postol.

Postol's harshest words were for the "politicians," who he did not name, in charge of the tests. He said these people should be "put in jail for fraud."

"Telling us that we've got a system that works is like telling someone to walk across a bridge that you've got, even though you know it's going to fall down," Postol said. "If that doesn't make you angry, then you're not engaged."

Storm sparks power outage, smoke alarms

CityBus' operating hours will be revised this weekend due to the holiday

Speaker criticizes missile defense system

Parking situation to improve

CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 253

Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org