Begich continues to fight against defense cuts

North Korea's potential to build a missile capable of reaching the United States is at least three years away, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting. And current U.S. defense capabilities -- based largely at Alaska's Fort Greely and at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California -- are more than adequate to address future threats, Lynn said.

"This is an expandable system," Lynn said. "Should that threat expand we would certainly want to consider expanding it. At the current time and into the immediate future, we think 30 silos and 44 missiles address the threat we face."

The Pentagon's stance, while unsurprising given the Obama administration's skepticism about the effectiveness of the missile defense program, was something of a blow to Alaska's effort to restore the money for additional missile silos at Fort Greely.

The proposed cuts would halt construction of a 20-silo missile field and stop the purchase of new ground-based interceptors. Currently, there are 16 interceptors deployed at Greely's two completed fields, with 10 more missiles scheduled for delivery for the remaining empty silos. The Pentagon would continue to test and improve on the effectiveness of the existing missile defense system, which critics have complained was deployed before proven to actually work.

But Begich, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, continued to make a case for avoiding cuts to the program, saying during Tuesday's hearing that 40 percent of North Korea's own nuclear testing has occurred since the U.S. announced plans to curtail its program.

Last month, Begich accompanied Defense Secretary William Gates to Fort Greely, where Gates said that the Obama administration will continue to focus on perfecting missile defense technologies that show promise of working.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said after the hearing that he believes it is more important to ensure the quality and capability of the existing missiles, by keeping some out of the ground for testing and upgrades. The Pentagon still will buy all 44 missile interceptors they've been planning, but they won't build the silos for them, Levin said. They want to see "operationally realistic" testing and ensure that the missiles they do have will work, Levin said. They also want spares.

"Those 30 missiles in the ground have a greater capability and certainty than 44 missiles would have," Levin said. "That's a huge advantage to the national security."

Begich also said Tuesday he was concerned that the twice yearly missile tests they were promised are currently on a nine-month schedule. It's much more executable just because of the sheer magnitude and cost of tests, said Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, director of the Missile Defense Agency. And as the tests get more complicated as they work on the systems, the time between them is longer.

State officials have been hoping that a stronger and more frequent testing program translates into more activity at the state-owned rocket launch facility in Kodiak. The facility has been used to simulate missile launches from Korea for interceptor test launches from Vandenberg.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Don Young and Gov. Sarah Palin have continued to make a case for a large missile defense budget that includes the additional missile silos in Alaska. Palin argued last month for the funding for the missile defense agency to be fully restored.