WASHINGTON--A significant portion of the US missile defense capability was wiped out during the summer of 2006 because torrential rains caused ground-based interceptor silos to be damaged by flood waters, the Project On Government Oversight has learned.

This expensive mishap occurred just as North Korea was ratcheting up its nuclear weapons program. However Boeing, the contractor that is at least partly responsible for failing to protect the silos, will most likely still receive an estimated $38 million to repair the silos and a $100 million no-bid contract to build more silos. Boeing would also receive a $7 million award fee added to the contract.

The flooding occurred during a three-week period between the end of June and early July 2006 when Ft. Greely, Alaska, received several inches of rain. Ft. Greely and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California house the nation's only Missile Defense Agency interceptor missiles. The flooding damaged 25% of the US interceptor missiles’ launch capability. These silos house the interceptor missiles that would be used to attempt to intercept a missile aimed at the United States. No interceptors were in the flooded silos.

Insiders report that Boeing, the lead contractor responsible for building the fields, disputes its role in the disaster. Boeing argues that NORTHCOM, the US military command responsible for defending North America, is primarily responsible because it ordered Boeing to stop working on the interceptor fields in case the missiles were needed to respond to a North Korean missile launch.

Boeing's internal assessment shows that one of the missile fields has seven flooded interceptor silos--with up to 63 ft. of water in one silo and 50 ft. in another. Ft. Greely has 26 silos. As of Feb. 7, 2007 13 interceptors had been installed.

POGO sources say Boeing argues the interruption prevented them from protecting the silos from the rain. However, these same sources say it is questions whether the silos could have handled the rainfall anyway because they are poorly designed. In addition, an environmental impact study of the facilities at Ft. Greely notes there is "little rainfall in the region." (See p. 8 at http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/pdf/chpr4.pdf.)