July 29, 2003

Warner says Pentagon threat-bet program to be canceled
"Unbelievably stupid"

The Pentagon will abandon a plan to establish a futures market to help predict terrorist strikes, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said he spoke by phone with the head of the agency overseeing the program "and we mutually agreed that this thing should be stopped."

Later, in an interview, Warner said that the agancy "didn't think through the full ramifications of the program."

He said they would recommend that the Pentagon not spend any funds already in place for the program and said they would pull the plug on it during House-Senate budget conference committee negotiations later on this year.

No comments: