> Boeing Plans Ads to Promote Missile Defense
>
> By Greg Schneider
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Friday, June 16, 2000; Page E03
>
>
> With the planned multibillion-dollar national missile-defense system under
> attack from critics who say the technology will not work, Boeing Co. is
> about to break an industry silence with an advertising and "education"
> campaign aimed at both the public and insiders who influence Congress.
>
> "We're going to be running some ads very soon, and we've had some
> discussions with the customer [the Pentagon] on how we can go out and try to
> educate a lot of folks about national missile defense. We're proud of the
> program that we have," James Albaugh, president of Boeing's Space and
> Communications Group, said in an interview yesterday.
>
> The pending campaign marks a departure not only for Boeing but also for the
> defense industry as a whole, which customarily leads the way in promoting
> and marketing major weapons systems.
>
> Although ballistic-missile defense will be worth about $4.7 billion in the
> next year alone, military contractors have done virtually no advertising and
> little direct lobbying on the issue in recent years, in part because
> congressional support seemed solid.
>
> Companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp., which is building an anti-missile
> system to protect Army troops, as well as subcontractors Raytheon Co. and
> TRW Inc., also were leery about taking a high profile on such a sensitive
> issue.
>
> But debate is heating up as President Clinton nears a decision on whether to
> begin construction of a system to protect the nation from limited
> ballistic-missile attack from "rogue" states or terrorists. Boeing won a
> three-year, $1.6 billion contract in 1998 to develop the system.
>
> In the past few weeks, critics such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> scientist Ted Postol have raised significant doubts about whether the
> science of hitting a missile with another missile is anywhere near
> achievable.
>
> Asked if the upcoming Boeing campaign is a direct response to such
> criticism, Albaugh said only that the company wants to make its voice heard.
>
> "I think there's going to be a debate on this subject over the next several
> months, and we want to make sure that we enter the debate and can be the
> honest broker and can provide people with our view of the maturity of the
> technology," he said.
>
> In addition to advertising, Boeing plans to meet with influential figures
> such as retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch, who heads a review board
> evaluating missile-defense programs for the Pentagon, and former defense
> secretary William Perry, Albaugh said.
>
> The idea is to "make sure people understand the technology and how it
> works," he said. "The geopolitical aspects are something that we don't speak
> to."
>
> Several ardent missile-defense supporters, such as Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.)
> and Frank Gaffney Jr. of the Center for Security Policy, a Washington-based
> think tank, have criticized defense companies for not using their resources
> to influence public debate.
>
> Boeing's new plan "is definitely a good thing," said Loren Thompson, a
> military expert at the Lexington Institute in Arlington. "The defense
> contractors and the government have to do a better job of explaining the
> technology and the mission of national missile defense. What's happening is
> that critics are taking advantage of all the secrecy about missile defense
> to drive the public debate."
>
> But one missile-defense critic saw the campaign as a cynical effort to gloss
> over doubts about the technology.
>
> "Obviously, advertising is the name of the game in the United States of
> America, whether it's toothpaste or deodorant or weapons programs," said
> John Isaacs, president of the arms-control group Council for a Livable
> World. "I think what they're trying to do is soften public opinion and
> ultimately congressional opinion."
>
> Bruce K. Gagnon
> Coordinator
> Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
> PO Box 90083
> Gainesville, FL. 32607
> (352) 337-9274
> http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
> globalnet at mindspring.com