| Given a graph G=(V,E) and a positive integer D, we consider the problem of finding a minimum number of new edges E' such that the augmented graph G'=(V,E\cup E') is biconnected and has diameter no greater than D. In this note we show that this problem is NP-hard for all fixed D, by employing a reduction from the DOMINATING SET problem. We prove that the problem remains NP-hard even for forests and trees, but in this case we present approximation algorithms with worst-case bounds 3 (for even D) and 6 (for odd D). A closely related problem of finding a minimum number of edges such that the augmented graph has diameter no greater than D has been shown to be NP-hard by Schoone, Bodlaender, and van Leeuwen, J. Graph Theory, 11 (1987) when D=3, and by Li, McCormick, and Simchi--Levi, Operations Research Letters, 11 (1991) when D=2. |