Monday, March 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
McGrail: "If we had known a moratorium was coming, I doubt we would have ever built the facility." Gee, they had to have know at least four-and-a-half years ago -- and it is still just nearing completion.
After referring to "unlimited funds for defense," during the Reagan administration, McGrail said, " we had embarked on a policy of spending the Russians into bankruptcy." Hmmm. I don't remember hearing about that risky policy then. It doesn't seem like very efficient stewardship of the taxpayers' money.
Later, McGrail said, "the decision came down to what are you doing to do with $100 million in taxpayer money?" He didn't include the decade and a half of construction, cost overruns and $8 million a year in operating expenses, but I guess their decision was to keep on spending as much as they could for as long as they can.
My favorite McGrail line was: "In retrospect, it (DAF) was too large. It could have been built half as big." Hey, what are ya gonna do wtih $100 of taxpayers' money, anyway?
McGrail's lame rationalizations made it sound as though the DOE/$$$ program officials have been out of touch on some lunar outpost. Any corporation worth its profits would certainly have demonstrated more flexibility and foresight than the bumbling and wasteful DOE/DAF fiasco.
If they were planning to assemble 40 to 50 nuclear weapons per year, then perhaps they can use the facility to disassemble 40 to 50 per month. We have thousands more to go.
Steve Howland
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