Until Congress and the Pentagon complete their quickly launched investigations, the public should suspend judgment on the latest shocking allegations regarding the controversial Star Wars program.
But whichever way those investigations turn out, the upshot seems bound to leave a lingering stench in the nostrils. If true, the allegations disclose a new low in relations between the White House and Congress. If false, they represent a new low in attacks on Star Wars - attacks that can no longer have much impact on this program because of the ruinous extent to which its funding has been gutted.We're referring, of course, to this week's New York Times report in which four former officials of the Reagan administration claim the Pentagon rigged a 1984 test of the missile defense system. The objective was to fool the Soviet Union into spending itself into bankruptcy by trying to match the American missile shield. In the process, Congress also was fooled into wasting money - or so the allegations go.
In probing these accusations, congressional and Pentagon investigators need to ask such pointed questions as:
Who are the accusers and why do they still feel it was necessary for the Times to keep the public from learning their identities? Is it just coincidence they are making their charges collectively instead of speaking up one at a time? Or were their accusations somehow orchestrated?
Why didn't the accusers speak up long ago? Do they have any concrete proof of their allegations? Or is it just their word against that of the present and former Star Wars officials who are now denying any wrongdoing in the 1984 test?
If the four accusers are not guilty of bearing false witness now, were they part of - and, consequently, culpable for - the 1984 coverup they claim to be exposing?
If the only objective of the 1984 test was to fool the Soviets and bilk money out of Congress, as the accusers claim, why go to the elaborate and expensive charade at the Star Wars missile site? Why not just put out false claims on the basis of considerably scaled-down tests? And why not make the false claims much earlier?
The point is that the burden of proof is not on Star Wars officials but on their accusers. They must identify themselves and offer concrete proof. It's time to put up or shut up.