Washington – Poor management has delayed needed upgrades to early-warning systems at the military’s Cheyenne Mountain complex and pushed the cost more than 50 percent over budget, congressional investigators say in a new report.
Upgrades to systems that track missiles – like the North Korean rockets tested last week – are three years behind schedule, according to the report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
Upgrades for tracking man-made space debris have been postponed to an undetermined point in the future, “which could pose risks to performing some future operations,” the GAO report said.
But upgrades for tracking airplanes – an increased priority after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – have been completed.
Built in the 1960s inside a mountain above Colorado Springs to warn of a Cold War nuclear attack, the Cheyenne Mountain facility uses radar and sensors to detect threats for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) as well as the new U.S. Northern Command (Northcom), which oversees the military’s role in homeland security.
The facility must be continually updated to deal with new threats, such as terrorist attacks.
But over the years, the GAO said, those upgrades have been “fraught with cost increases, schedule delays and performance shortfalls.”
In recent years, some have questioned whether Cheyenne Mountain is still needed. Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of Northcom and NORAD, said in February he had launched a study of whether to continue operating the mountain facility.
Northcom has a newer command post nearby at Peterson Air Force Base that carries out much of the same surveillance, with access to all the same data.
NORAD has been a joint command with Canada. But Canada has launched its own “Canada Command” to defend its nation.
The latest upgrades to air, missile and space warning systems at Cheyenne Mountain were begun in 2000 and were expected to be done by this year at a cost of $467 million. The GAO said the Air Force has spent $707 million, 51 percent more than the estimate. Most of the work isn’t done, and the Air Force hasn’t set a date for when it will be.
The report says that the Air Force began the upgrades without fully knowing what capabilities were to be delivered when, and at what cost. Air Force officials reportedly changed requirements without regard to cost, and each year would simply raise the cost estimate.
The GAO study recommended stronger oversight of the program, saying the Air Force should implement additional management controls by treating it as a major acquisitions program. Until it does that, the Air Force should suspend work on any of the upgrades not critical to national security, the report said.
Air Force officials declined Friday to comment on the allegations of poor management in the report. But the Department of Defense submitted a response agreeing to treat the Cheyenne Mountain upgrade program as a major acquisition.
Defense officials disagreed with suspending work on upgrades, saying it could force the use of outdated systems.
Staff writer Bruce Finley contributed to this story.
Staff writer Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.
