Ballistic Missile Defense. Actions Needed to Improve Planning and Information on Construction and Support Costs for Proposed European Sites

DOD has begun planning for the construction, implementation, and operations and support for the European missile defense sites, including coordinating with international partners and U.S. stakeholders however,several challenges remain that are affecting DODs plans for ballistic missile defenses in Europe. First, neither Poland nor the Czech Republic has ratified the bilateral Ballistic Missile Defense Agreements and bilateral supplementary agreements to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. The ratification votes remain delayed, in part, because of a desire on the part of both the Polish and Czech parliaments to wait for an indication from the new U.S. administration on its policy toward ballistic missile defenses in Europe. As long as these agreements remain unratified, DODs ability to finalize key details about how the sites will operate, such as whether security will be provided by the host nation, will be limited. Second, DODs efforts to establish the roles and responsibilities of key U.S. stakeholders for the European sites remain incomplete because MDA and the services have not yet made important determinations, such as establishing the criteria that must be met before the transfer of specific European missile defense sites to the services. MDA has been directed by DOD since 2002 to begin planning for the transfer of missile defense elements, including the direction to coordinate with the services on resources and personnel needed in order to deliver an effective transition of responsibility. In addition, our prior work assessing interagency collaboration has shown that agreed-upon roles and responsibilities that clarify who will do what, organize joint and individual efforts, and facilitate decision making are important to agencies capability to enhance and sustain their collaborative efforts.