Colorado Springs – More analysis needs to be done to determine whether moving air- and space-surveillance missions to Peterson Air Force Base from Cheyenne Mountain is good for national security.
A report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, recommends that the Defense Department halt spending on the move until security analyses are complete, the full costs of the move are known and the Pentagon provides Congress an analysis of how the move will affect operations.
Earlier this month, Congress halted funding until studies can be completed. Construction for new operations at Peterson was to begin next month, and operations were to begin in May 2008.
The Department of Defense built the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) inside Cheyenne Mountain in the 1960s to withstand a major attack, but the Pentagon has said it no longer needs the hardened facility because the threat of an intercontinental ballistic missile strike today is low.
Adm. Timothy Keating, the former commander of NorthCom/NORAD, recommended that operations be consolidated after he conducted exercises in 2005 in which he tried to direct planning, operations, and command and control from two command centers.
” … The commander identified shortcomings in unity of effort due to the geographic separation of the command centers,” said the GAO report.
Michael Kucharek, spokesman for NorthCom/NORAD, said officials had not fully reviewed the GAO recommendations.
He said no contract has been awarded for the June project, although bids for the work have been solicited.
“We will continue to work closely with Congress and the GAO in the days and weeks ahead,” Kucharek said.
He said the initiative to combine command centers was not about cost savings but was required to increase effectiveness of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command.
Keating estimated that he could save taxpayers between $150 million and $200 million by moving functions from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson, but the GAO said Keating did not provide evidence of how that savings would be achieved.
