No clear plan for supporting Guam missile defense system, GAO finds

The Protection Division has but to develop a transparent technique to information the development, deployment and long-term administration of the missile protection structure it’s constructing on Guam, the Authorities Accountability Workplace has decided.

The workplace is anxious that with out such a plan, the hassle dangers price and schedule overruns and an infrastructure unready to accommodate the extra personnel required to function the defensive defend.

In a report launched Might 22, the federal government watchdog notes that whereas the Pentagon has arrange organizations to handle the Guam Protection System and has now designated lead companies for sustaining and working it, there is no such thing as a technique to switch duties from the Missile Protection Company to the assorted service leads.

“In consequence, DOD dangers schedule delays for the deployment of GDS [Guam Defense System] components and incomplete plans for group, coaching, personnel ranges, and amenities, amongst different issues,” the report states.

The Military, which is main the hassle to ascertain the system on the strategic island within the Pacific, additionally faces hurdles to advocate for development and set up help from the opposite navy companies well-established on Guam.

And the Protection Division has but to give you agency numbers for personnel required to function and maintain the system and estimates of after they would possibly arrive, in line with the report.

“With out clear personnel necessities or deployment schedules, the companies will be unable to adequately plan for crucial help programs, which is able to scale back service personnel readiness and will exacerbate current infrastructure,” the watchdog states.

On the finish of 2023, the Pentagon pointed to 2024 as important for establishing the deliberate missile protection structure on Guam. Because the risk from China continues to develop, DOD pledged to ship a foundational functionality to assist stave off a possible assault directed at Guam by the tip of 2024. That schedule is already slipping.

Guam is an island of almost 170,000 those that sits in a susceptible place — it’s nearer to Beijing than it’s to Hawaii. The island performs host to a major quantity of U.S. fight energy and would subsequently be a horny goal for China within the occasion of a conflict within the Taiwan Strait.

The Missile Protection Company and the Military sought a mixed $1.5 billion within the fiscal 2024 funds to start making ready the island by transferring belongings into place and integrating capabilities.

The Pentagon designated the Military in 2023 because the lead service overseeing the acquisition and execution plan for defending Guam.

Competing for sources

The present plan, in line with the report, is to distribute components of the structure throughout 16 websites on the island and set up a Guam command heart. The Pentagon is planning for its first deployment to start in fiscal 2027, with ultimate GDS components coming in fiscal 2032.

The structure is a tall order, contemplating the Military’s earlier expertise establishing a Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection, or THAAD, system on Guam in 2013.

The THAAD battery, often called Process Drive Talon, was first deployed as expeditionary however grew to become completely stationed in June 2016 to defend in opposition to attainable ballistic missile threats from North Korea.

Over a decade later, the report factors out that the Military doesn’t have enough set up help for the THAAD battery and has had hassle getting approvals from the Navy for development to help the system. The Military’s standing on the island leaves it with out its personal development planners, forcing it to depend on different companies.

For instance, GAO stories that the THAAD unit didn’t obtain approval to start out environmental work till January 2024 to assemble a brief upkeep facility for gear after a hurricane hit the island in Might 2023.

The unit additionally has restricted cupboard space for components and has to go away some components exterior unprotected, leading to steady corrosion points.

And austere circumstances have resulted in “morale challenges,” GAO discovered. The THAAD unit had simply put in a latrine with working water and an ice machine in 2023. There’s nonetheless no drinkable water on the location.

The Military goes to require a a lot bigger variety of amenities to help the brand new missile protection structure and needs to “make Guam an obligation station of selection,” the report states.

The Military will proceed to must depend on set up help from the opposite companies as a result of it gained’t be establishing its personal base on the island, GAO mentioned.

“The Military will possible face challenges in advocating for development priorities and coordinating set up help throughout a number of areas.”

On the identical time, the Pentagon is trying to transfer personnel to the island for the missile protection system. The Marine Corps can be relocating 1,700 Marines from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam. The plan is to maneuver all of them by 2029, the report notes.

The company beforehand reported Guam’s restricted housing is a priority because the Marines construct up a presence there, and the Air Drive and Navy each have development priorities for their very own bases that might compete for sources wanted for the missile protection system’s institution.

The Pentagon additionally struggled to find out which service can be liable for working and sustaining which components of the Guam structure. GAO indicated there have been some inside disputes over the division of duties for varied facets of the system.

Figuring out density

Regardless of the deputy secretary of protection directing the Military in June 2023 to find out what number of personnel can be required for GDS inside 120 days, the service didn’t full the duty and nonetheless had not produced a quantity by August 2024, in line with the report.

The Military informed GAO it was ready for the Pentagon to resolve the lead organizations for operations and sustainment earlier than figuring out personnel ranges, facility wants and coaching plans.

The Pentagon has additionally not established a timeline for transferring accountability, in line with the report.

“DOD has proposed a number of navy companies to handle GDS, which makes growing a plan for working and sustaining GDS significantly difficult,” the report states. “Particularly, DOD officers informed us that this missile protection program would be the division’s largest and most intricate, presenting communication and planning challenges among the many varied DOD stakeholders.”

With out some prediction of personnel that may circulation onto the island over what timeline, the Pentagon faces the prospect of “deploying personnel to Guam with out sufficient amenities or set up help companies in place, together with safety of web sites, hearth safety and emergency administration at bases operated by three totally different navy companies in Guam,” in line with the report.

Some estimates state there will likely be a necessity for roughly 913 Military personnel in Guam by fiscal 2028, whereas one other calculates a attainable development of 4,464 personnel by the identical 12 months.

General, the island’s inhabitants is estimated to develop from 17,917 personnel and dependents to 26,605 by fiscal 2034.

In its report, GAO recommends that the Pentagon develop a technique with a timeline for transferring duties to guide organizations and companies for the assorted components of the structure.

The Military must also develop a “long-term technique” for its group as a supported command on the island.

And the protection secretary ought to decide personnel necessities wanted for the structure “to permit enough time for finishing development of crucial help amenities on Guam,” the report states.