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Nation:
MIT professor calls for fraud investigation over missile report
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Copyright © 2002 AP Online
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The Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (November
29, 2002 9:03 a.m. EST) - A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor
called for an investigation of allegations that MIT scientists signed off
on a report validating an early test of the national missile defense system
despite evidence that a component of it did not work.
The Boston Globe reported Friday that a letter written by Charlene
M. Placido, an assistant dean for research, said professor Ed Crawley had
decided to recommend the investigation. Crawley, chairman of MIT's aeronautics
and astronautics department, was appointed last year to look into the allegations
of fraud.
The Globe reported that Crawley could not be reached for comment and that MIT would not release his report.
"The reason for confidentially is simple: The reputations of individuals
are at stake," MIT spokesman Ken Campbell said in a prepared statement.
In March, the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative
arm, said the Pentagon, contractors TRW and Boeing and an MIT review team
all exaggerated the success of the nation's first missile defense test in
1997.
Investigators said the test was flawed because a sensor could not distinguish between a warhead and decoys.
MIT's Lincoln Laboratories issued a report validating the test results in 1999.
The Pentagon said the findings were outdated, and a high-ranking
an Air Force officer said the test involved hardware that hasn't been part
of the missile defense program in more than four years.
The 1997 test, which did not involve an attempt to intercept a warhead,
tested a system made by Boeing and TRW that was rejected. The Pentagon accepted
a competing system by Raytheon that relies on a different sensor that uses
a different design and different means of discriminating warheads from decoys.
The FBI reviewed the case after a fired TRW employee alleged in
a lawsuit that TRW falsely reported or hid information to make the Pentagon
believe the system worked.
MIT physicist Theodore Postol, who alerted university officials
to the possible fraud in April 2001 and has urged a full inquiry, said he
believes researchers could not have overlooked data that showed the missile
system did not work.
"This isn't simply a case of bad or fraudulent science, it was quite
likely obstruction of justice - and every major official at this university
has been aware of this," Postol said.
MIT officials would not comment on Postol's allegations. But in
the school's prepared statement, Campbell said "Professor Postol knows what
the MIT policies say about confidentiality, and if he chooses to disregard
them, he will have violated those policies."
It appeared that Crawley has reversed his previous findings in his
investigation. In an earlier draft report sent to administrators this summer,
the Globe
reported, he said "not only do I find no evidence of research misconduct,
but I also find no credible evidence of technical error."
Ming-Jer Tsai, one of five researchers who conducted the study at
Lincoln Laboratories, called it "strange" that Crawley initially found no
problems with their work and then called for an investigation.
"I was surprised to realize there was a reversal of the professor's
position," he said. "I don't want to speculate what changed his mind."
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