MDA’s mission is to develop an integrated and layered Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, friends, and allies against ballistic missile attacks. This mission requires complex coordination and the integration of many and varied defensive components—space-based sensors; ground- and sea-based surveillance and tracking radars; advanced ground- and sea-based interceptors; and battle management, command, control, and communications. Prior to MDA’s establishment in 2002, the services, along with the support and coordination of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, separately managed the development and acquisition of ballistic missile defense weapon systems as major defense acquisition programs. In 2002, the President established ballistic missile defense as a national priority and directed DOD to proceed with plans to develop and put in place an initial capability beginning in 2004. To expedite the delivery of an operationally capable Ballistic Missile Defense System, in 2002 the Secretary of Defense re-chartered the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization as MDA and directed MDA to manage all ballistic missile defense systems then under development and transferred those systems controlled by the military services to the agency. The systems transferred from the services and the new systems whose development MDA initiates are all considered to be “elements” of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The Secretary also directed MDA to manage the Ballistic Missile Defense System as an evolutionary program, and to develop and field increasingly effective ballistic missile defense capabilities. To do so, he directed that systems developed by MDA would not be subject to DOD’s traditional joint requirements determination and acquisition processes until a mature ballistic missile defense capability had been developed and was ready to be handed over to a military service for production and operation. MDA’s mission is to develop and field ballistic missile defenses against threats posed by adversaries from all regions, at all ranges, and in all phases of flight. At the direction of the Secretary of Defense and in order to meet a presidential directive, the MDA began fielding in 2004 a limited capability to defend the United States against long-range ballistic missile attacks. This Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, which is intended to protect the U.S. homeland against incoming long-range ballistic missiles launched from Northeast Asia and the Middle East, was first made operational in 2006. MDA has added to this limited capability since it was first fielded by upgrading additional Air Force early warning radars, developing and fielding land- and sea-based radars, and fielding an initial capability for command and control, battle management, and communications. Additionally, to provide sea-based defenses against regional threats for deployed U.S. forces, friends, and allies, MDA has upgraded software and radar systems on 18 Aegis destroyers and cruisers, and delivered interceptors for use on these vessels, to defend against short- and medium-range threats. Early in the next decade, MDA plans to field an additional radar in the Czech Republic and ground-based interceptors in Poland to defend Europe and North America from ballistic missile threats originating in the Middle East. Over the long term, MDA also is developing interceptor payloads that would be capable of defeating more advanced threats—such as the use of multiple warheads or decoys— and “boost-phase” capabilities to enable DOD to shoot down ballistic missiles shortly after liftoff. To incorporate the views of the combatant commands—which is critical in determining and prioritizing needed capabilities—the President made the U.S. Strategic Command responsible in 2003 for advocating for desirable missile defense characteristics and capabilities on behalf of all combatant commands to MDA. To fulfill this responsibility, U.S. Strategic Command and the MDA created the Warfighter Involvement Process in 2005. A key output of this process is the Prioritized Capabilities List, which is intended to specify how the combatant commands collectively prioritize the full range of capabilities needed to perform ballistic missile defense missions. To operate and support ballistic missile defense elements over the long term, DOD plans to transition the responsibility for supporting ballistic missile defense elements from MDA to the services. Transitioning involves designating lead military service responsibilities for providing personnel, force protection, operations and support, and for developing doctrine, organization, and facilities requirements for its respective element. The transition process may culminate in a transfer—which is the reassignment of the MDA program office responsibilities to the lead service. Oversight of MDA is executed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. Because MDA is not subject to DOD’s traditional joint requirements determination and acquisition processes, DOD developed alternative oversight mechanisms. For example, in 2007 the Deputy Secretary of Defense established the Missile Defense Executive Board, which is to provide the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, or Deputy Secretary of Defense, as necessary, with a recommended ballistic missile defense strategic program plan and feasible funding strategy for approval. In September 2008, the Deputy Secretary of Defense also established a life cycle management process for the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The Deputy Secretary of Defense directed the Board to use the process to oversee the annual preparation of a required capabilities portfolio and develop a program plan to meet the requirements with Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation; procurement; operations and maintenance; and military construction in defensewide accounts. MDA’s exemption from traditional DOD processes allowed it the flexibility to quickly develop and field an initial ballistic missile defense capability; however, we have previously reported that DOD’s implementation of this approach has resulted in several management challenges that have not been fully addressed. These challenges include immature processes for incorporating combatant command priorities, inadequate baselines to measure progress, and incomplete planning for long-term operations and support. With the start of a new administration and the appointment of a new MDA Director, DOD now has an opportunity to better balance the flexibility inherent in MDA’s unique roles and missions with the need for effective management and oversight of ballistic missile defense programs, and to more fully address the challenges that affect its ability to plan and resource ballistic missile defenses. DOD has taken some steps to address combatant command capability needs through the Warfighter Involvement Process, but this process faces key limitations to its effectiveness. For example, based on combatant command inputs received through the Warfighter Involvement Process, MDA initiated new programs in fiscal year 2008 to develop and deploy sea- based defenses against short-range missiles. However, when the Secretary of Defense created MDA in 2002, the agency initially lacked a mechanism for obtaining and considering the combatant commands’ priorities as it developed ballistic missile defenses. The lack of such a mechanism made it difficult for MDA and the combatant commands to be sure that MDA was addressing the commands’ highest priority capability needs. Although U.S. Strategic Command and MDA established the Warfighter Involvement Process in 2005, we reported in July 2008 that this process is still evolving and had not yet yielded a clear and effective approach for MDA to follow when making investment decisions. Our report identified several shortcomings that inhibited the process’ effectiveness. For example: U.S. Strategic Command’s and MDA’s roles and responsibilities for implementing the process were not fully documented, which left the combatant commands without an agreed-upon method for influencing MDA investments and for holding MDA accountable. U.S. Strategic Command has since issued guidance that documents how the process operates, but this guidance is not binding on MDA and will require updating as the process evolves. As of March 2009 MDA had drafted but not yet issued similar guidance. As a result, the combatant commands continue to lack both transparency into the agency’s decision-making process and assurance that MDA will implement the process in a manner that addresses their needs. The process has not yet resulted in effective methodologies for the combatant commands to clearly identify and consistently prioritize their capability needs. For example, in preparing the 2007 Prioritized Capabilities List—intended to give combatant commanders input into development priorities—combatant commands used differing criteria for assessing capabilities, and not all commands clearly distinguished among their top priorities. As a result, the list did not provide MDA with clear information about how to best address the combatant commands’ needs. DOD agreed with our recommendation that U.S. Strategic Command improve the methodologies for identifying and prioritizing capabilities, but has not yet completed the 2009 Prioritized Capabilities List. Senior civilian DOD leadership has not been involved in the Warfighter Involvement Process to adjudicate potential differences among the combatant commands’ priorities and provide perspective on how to invest resources against priorities as the leadership would under traditional DOD processes. Lacking such senior-level involvement, MDA has not benefited from receiving a broader perspective on which of the commands’ needs is the most significant. To address this shortcoming, we recommended that senior civilian leadership review the commands’ priorities before they are sent to MDA. DOD partially agreed with our recommendation, but it did not clearly identify the steps it would take to implement the recommendation. A congressionally mandated independent review, released in August 2008, of MDA’s roles, missions, and structure also identified the need to improve the Warfighter Involvement Process. Although the independent review found that the Warfighter Involvement Process provided a potential mechanism for the combatant commands to influence Ballistic Missile Defense System developments, the review made several recommendations to make the process more effective. In particular, as our July 2008 report recommended, the independent review recommended that DOD improve the methodologies used to develop and prioritize the combatant commands’ capability needs so that the Prioritized Capabilities List provides more adequate guidance to MDA. Since our July 2008 report was issued, U.S. Strategic Command has responded to our recommendation that the combatant commands compare their priorities with MDA’s long-term funding plans and provide an assessment—called the Capability Assessment Report—to MDA. U.S. Strategic Command expects the first assessment to be completed by the end of April 2009.