This article was first published in the Topeka Capital-Journal Online, Dec. 31, 2005.

On Dec. 17, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) put its 10th interceptor rocket in the ground at Ft. Greely, Alaska. This is part of the overarching ballistic missile defense system that the Pentagon and the Bush administration has been promising us would protect the United States against a rogue ICBM attack. Unfortunately for U.S. national security, and for those who care about where our tax dollars go, it does nothing of the sort.

The latest emplacement marks the eighth interceptor fielded in Alaska. There are two more at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. These ten mark the current entirety of the defense for the continental United States against missile attack.

More interceptors are planned for later, but this is all we have now. You would think that MDA would want the American public to know when there are more interceptors out there, as presumably this enhancement would be a good thing. Apparently not. It has stated, "In the interest of operational security, future interceptor emplacements will not be announced."

It's possible that they are seriously concerned about the safety of the missiles, even though they are located at secure U.S. military facilities that have not been overrun with protestors -- or anything similar that could interfere with their daily business.

Or it could be that because MDA officials are so mortified as to the sorry current state of the program they figure that the bad media attention from future announcements would more than cancel out any good that could come from them.

This unwillingness to give specifics about the program is a sure indicator that things are going poorly. The missile program has been a key part of the Bush administration's defense policy, and consequently has seen its coffers swell. Its progress, however, has not mirrored this interest and funding from above.

The interceptors fielded in Alaska and California are part of a weapons system that suffered two flight test failures within three months. In December 2004 and February 2005, the interceptor rockets not only failed to intercept their test targets -- they could not even leave the launch pad. The United States has been launching rockets for decades now; while missile defense requires an accuracy that has been likened to "hitting a bullet with a bullet," rocket launches should be well within our capabilities.

Following these recent setbacks, MDA officials took a hard look at their testing program and scaled things down. On Dec. 13, 2005, a test of the interceptor rocket was held, and finally it managed to get off the ground. No target was used; nor will a live target be incorporated in the tests for some time.

Yet somehow, the Pentagon argues with a straight face that this system can provide a "limited" defense for the United States against missile attack. It is theoretically possible that it may do so in the future, but missile defense, as it stands today, tomorrow, and really, for the next few years, does nothing more than divert funding and resources from programs that actually do work.

Still, it continues to grow. Unsatisfied to focus on simply getting the technologies that we have now to actually work, the Pentagon has set its sights on expanding the program abroad. In the coming year, it is set to make a decision as to which lucky European country gets to host a third interceptor site. The United States will soon be exporting its special brand of "defense" to our purported allies, which is to say, a system that costs billions of dollars and yet doesn't work. Lucky them -- and lucky us.