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 worried 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 protect.

In a report launched Could 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 isn’t any technique to switch obligations from the Missile Protection Company to the varied service leads.

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

The Military, which is main the hassle to determine the system on the strategic island within the Pacific, additionally faces hurdles to advocate for building 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, based on the report.

“With out clear personnel necessities or deployment schedules, the companies won’t be able to adequately plan for crucial help techniques, which is able to scale back service personnel readiness and should exacerbate present infrastructure,” the watchdog states.

On the finish of 2023, the Pentagon pointed to 2024 as vital 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 practically 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 due to this fact be a sexy goal for China within the occasion of a battle within the Taiwan Strait.

The Missile Protection Company and the Military sought a mixed $1.5 billion within the fiscal 2024 price range to start getting ready the island by transferring property 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 assets

The present plan, based on the report, is to distribute parts of the structure throughout 16 websites on the island and set up a Guam command middle. The Pentagon is planning for its first deployment to start in fiscal 2027, with last GDS parts 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, generally known as Activity Drive Talon, was first deployed as expeditionary however grew to become completely stationed in June 2016 to defend towards attainable ballistic missile threats from North Korea.

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

For instance, GAO reviews that the THAAD unit didn’t obtain approval to begin environmental work till January 2024 to assemble a short lived upkeep facility for tools after a storm hit the island in Could 2023.

The unit additionally has restricted cupboard space for components and has to go away some components outdoors 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 operating 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 desires 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 received’t be establishing its personal base on the island, GAO stated.

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

On the identical time, the Pentagon is seeking 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 building priorities for their very own bases that would compete for assets wanted for the missile protection system’s institution.

The Pentagon additionally struggled to find out which service could be accountable for working and sustaining which parts of the Guam structure. GAO indicated there have been some inside disputes over the division of obligations for numerous elements 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 could be required for GDS inside 120 days, the service didn’t full the duty and nonetheless had not produced a quantity by August 2024, based on the report.

The Military instructed 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 duty, based on 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 instructed us that this missile protection program would be the division’s largest and most complex, presenting communication and planning challenges among the many numerous DOD stakeholders.”

With out some prediction of personnel that may circulate 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 websites, fireplace safety and emergency administration at bases operated by three completely different navy companies in Guam,” based on the report.

Some estimates state there will probably 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 method with a timeline for transferring obligations to steer organizations and companies for the varied parts 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 adequate time for finishing building of crucial help amenities on Guam,” the report states.