Star Wars

[Richard Hugus <rhugus@cape.com>]

PAVE PAWS Re-enters The Limelight
Activists worry about plans to use the facility in a new defense program

         By JEFFREY BURT
         STAFF WRITER

            It's been more than 20 years since Upper Cape residents began
their battle against the Air Force's PAVE PAWS radar facility on the
Massachusetts Military Reservation. Questions they had then about the
health effects of long-term exposure to low-intensity microwave radiation
still haven't been answered, fueling two decades of frustration and anxiety.

         But in the back of their minds was the belief that the facility
would be gone within 10 to 20 years, replaced by newer, less-threatening
technology. Not only is the 105-foot radar facility still operating, it
promises to stay around for a long time. There is no new technology to
replace it, according to its commander. Also, all three of the Air Force's
PAVE PAWS facilities - on the Cape and in California and Alaska - will play
a key role in a $12 billion national missile defense program being
contemplated in Washington, D.C.

            President Clinton is expected to decide next summer whether to
deploy it. Pentagon officials have until then to research the feasibility
of a system, including the costs and whether appropriate technology exists,
and make a recommendation to him.That and the expected November release of
a report by a state-appointed panel on health issues surrounding the radar
facility will push PAVE PAWS back to the forefront of the ongoing debate
over the military's role on Cape Cod.

Read this article in full at http://www.capecodonline.com.