The Pacific Center for Island Security, a research institute, questions the Missile Defense Agency’s intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in a letter to Republican Delegate James Moylan.
The PCIS claims the Department of Defense has not contracted for an Independent Assessment of Guam’s Air and Missile Defense Architecture.
The Pacific Center for Island Security questioned recent announcements to begin an Environmental Impact Statement process on an “Enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense” system in Guam.
In a letter to Moylan, the PCIS stated that according to the National Defense Authorization Act, the Department of Defense had to contract for an independent assessment of Guam’s Air Missile Defense System by March 2023. This assessment, according to the PCIS, hasn’t been started yet.
As PNC previously reported, during a Congress oversight hearing in March, Moylan asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin if the DoD intended on pursuing the assessment. Austin answered they would issue the contract by the end of the month.
The letter from PCIS, dated May 8, states that it’s been “60 days past the 60-day deadline and the Department has not yet met the NDAA’s requirements” of an evaluation of the planned missile system.
Kenneth Gofigan Kuper, PCIS Director, asked Moylan’s office for clarification on how the Missile Defense Agency is starting an Environmental Impact Statement or EIS process on a “system whose integrity is the subject of Congressional study requirements,”
In response to the letter, Moylan stated his office requested an update on the contract for the independent assessment and that no response has been provided yet.
In Moylan’s letter, he said he is requesting that the DoD be more transparent with their communications as his office received the announcement of the commencement of the EIS a little prior to MDA’s release.
Moylan responded that although he did not have the answers at the time, he would ask questions on the military footprint, the status of the independent assessment and other information during an upcoming briefing with the INDOPACOM Congressional Liaison office.
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