European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 29, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                $7.7 billion in Star wars projects scuttled the new York times Brilliant pebbles is one of the Star wars projects still being vigorously pursued by the  Robert Burns the associated press in its quest Tor a space based defense against nuclear attack the . Government invested at least $7.7 billion in Star wars pro acts that never got Oft the ground. Of the government s $29 billion investment so far in the strategic defense initiative fully a Quarter went to projects later cast aside As unneeded unworkable or unaffordable an associated press review found. The collapse of those efforts has not slowed ski spending this year the program will consume $4.15 billion making it the biggest item in the defense budget even though the threat that led to set s creation a soviet nuclear attack a has receded. Ski started in 1984 with a charge to Quot explore and demonstrate Quot key technologies in ballistic missile defense a with an emphasis on space based antimissile weapons. It is the costliest military research program in american history but its investment record has largely escaped detailed Public scrutiny. The defense department which administers so through a civilian run Agency called the strategic defense initiative organization has never Given a comprehensive accounting of Federal spending on ski projects it killed or mothballed. The $7.7 billion estimate is derived from an a review of annual reports to Congress by government agencies congressional testimony government audits and More than two dozen interviews with contractors and government officials. Congress has shown Little interest in where the ski Money has gone until recently. Now committees in the House and the Senate a As Well As the general accounting office the investigative Arm of Congress Are conducting in depth investigations of Sdit a record. Rep. John Conyers d-mich., chairman of the House government operations committee has said ski pulled a Quot reverse Rumpelstiltskin a it has spun Gold into  some of the $7.7 billion went to a surveillance satellite to detect and track hostile missiles. Cost $1 billion. Status dead. A a ground based laser to Zap missiles in flight by bouncing laser beams off relay and Quot fighting Quot mirrors stationed in space Cost $1.2 billion or More. Status mothballed. A a nuclear bomb pumped a Ray laser and other Quot nuclear directed Energy Quot weapons in space Cost More than $1.8 billion. Status dead a a pop up Quot probe Quot to help interceptors distinguish warheads from decoys hurtling through space. Cost at least $500 million. Status to be mothballed in 1993. As recently As last year the Pentagon called the probe Quot essential Quot to ski. A a guided rocket to intercept hostile missiles inside or outside the atmosphere Cost $623 million. Stalus mothballed. No Money budgeted Lor it after 1992. At least $800 million More was spent on supporting technologies for space and ground based laser weapons that no longer Are on a path toward development on paper studies of the architecture of beam weapons within the Overall Quot Star wars Quot Constellation and Lor management support. Winnowing out unworkable ideas is Normal in a scientific research program but in ski most of the ill fated projects were stopped or stalled not on the basis of scientific judgment but because of shifting priorities among government managers and politicians Maxwell Hunter a reined aerospace Engineer and a Pioneer in ballistic missile defense said ski suffers from a syndrome tie Calls the Quot rolling threat Quot a being Field to performance goals that Are placed further and further out of reach thus Locking the program into a research phase that produces Only paper results  d is still in great flux and More of its research programs May yet fall to the Wayside As  spun. I. A priorities change in the a her Mathot the cold  i hoc. A iving project in ski include a groan. I i a a i r of do inter Cepo Cal de the Chi a i pm u i a. I t i Ito help guide the interceptor to in. Taste  Al i a iter i up or s called or ill i it Fipple. Tec x a. I1 a  a e Itu e  i a a h a a t r a a c a 1 i a a Quot Todi Quot 1- to sci1 i a me t i Quot i a f a paper Trull a a o m Tif t r a Quot a a a a i a classified secret Zyloney sometimes came not through the ski office but the Energy department the armed services or the defense nuclear Agency. Ski is pressing ahead with less exotic plans for an antimissile system but it has ail but abandoned the Goat proclaimed by president Reagan in 1983 of seeking a defensive shield of Render nuclear weapons Quot impotent and  the goal May have been unreachable anyway but the initial Star wars enthusiasm triggered a flood of Federal spending on what ski managers called Quot High risk High return Quot projects. Thousands of private defense contractors were the main economic beneficiaries along with government owned weapons laboratories in los Alamos n.m., and Livermore Calif the Pentagon says the research could be revived if the nation again text threatened by nuclear missile attack. Critics say the Money was mostly wasted. Quot when think of the Money thrown Down the Drain and other abuses that Are still secret because they re classified i shudder at How badly the taxpayers and our National Security have been betrayed Quot stated Aldric Saucier who claims he was harassed in his Job As an army ski scientist after he levelled allegations of widespread ski waste fraud and abuse. In defense of ski s spending record Harry Ennis a retired army colonel closely involved in antimissile work m the Early 1980s, said that although Quot there was a lot of duplication Quot ski managers should not Fie faulted the Money was spent on a wide Range of urn r promising technologies Many of which i a muted in i Pios and were Arelee rated under re ague �,11 e r e i a i u e i e d u a it a it 1 \ a t1 i 111 a a it i. W Ltd ii it i j. A. I1.1 i. Lei r u cute of re if a a a. I n it no y Vou. I a i a \. In pie a a. He Star in a a. A a a a. I h. A it i la ,. I i a a a p i i a a p. R. T r. ,. A a f i a a. A a a a  was poured into supporting technologies for example ski spent $111 million Over six years on the sp-100 nuclear reactor which in 1987 it said was the a Cornerstone Quot of its efforts to develop a Power source for antimissile weapons designed for use in space. In addition the Energy department has spent $255 million on the uncompleted sp-100 reactor. This year ski dropped out of the project. Reason too costly and no longer needed. Steven Aftergood senior research analyst at the federation of american scientists said ski officials dragged the government deep into the sp-100 project in the 1980s Quot to satisfy Mission requirements that turned out to be  ski recently announced it cancelled several other Power projects that had Cost at least $117 million. In the most recent setback ski disclosed in Early May that it was drastically scaling Back efforts to develop a Quot Neutral particle beam Quot weapon that would fire beams of subatomic particles from a Battle Stalion in space. Ski has spent $732 million on the Neutral particle beam research since 1985, according to its reports to Congress plus tens of millions More on supporting technologies its demise leaves Only the space based chemical laser As a viable Quot Diro cled Energy Quot weapon candidate and even it costing $872 million so far is in danger. Henry Cooper the Dir Ector of ski told Congress this month that if All the Pentagon s efforts in lasers and other in acted Energy weapons were halted More than $10 trillion offed Ial government investment Over two decades would tie lost i he Appeal in Pic ,. J j Vvhs. It we. N i1 j i in i in do 1 Coper said readers action line Quot 1 1 of 1 a o. 1 t Rin a. 11 t ,1 if will m it appear today 1 i a a a 1 i 1 a to.1-s 1,1 .1 mall thai lit Quot a 1 a a 1 it a or i a a a i a a  a