A Shield in Space?: Technology, Politics, and the Strategic Defense Initiative : how the Reagan Administration Set Out to Make Nuclear Weapons "impotent and Obsolete" and Succumbed to the Fallacy of the Last MoveIn March 1983, Ronald Reagan made one of the most controversial announcements of his presidency when he called on the nation's scientists and engineers to develop a defensive shield so impenetrable as to make nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete." This book provides the first comprehensive review and evaluation of the project launched to implement that announcement --the project officially known as the Strategic Defense Initiative and more popularly as "Star Wars." The authors--a political scientist and a physicist who has played a key role in developing military technologies--provide an intriguing account of how political rather than technical judgment led to the initial decision, and they explain the technical issues in terms accessible to nonspecialists. Judging SDI as "a classic example of misplaced faith in the promise of technological salvation," the authors examine the implications of the program for strategy, arms control, the unity of the Western alliance, its prospective economic impact, and the way the American political process has dealt with all these issues. In March 1983, Ronald Reagan made one of the most controversial announcements of his presidency when he called on the nation's scientists and engineers to develop a defensive shield so impenetrable as to make nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete." This book provides the first comprehensive review and evaluation of the project launched to implement that announcement --the project officially known as the Strategic Defense Initiative and more popularly as "Star Wars." The authors--a political scientist and a physicist who has played a key role in developing military technologies--provide an intriguing account of how political rather than technical judgment led to the initial decision, and they explain the technical issues in terms accessible to nonspecialists. Judging SDI as "a classic example of misplaced faith in the promise of technological salvation," the authors examine the implications of the program for strategy, arms control, the unity of the Western alliance, its prospective economic impact, and the way the American political process has dealt with all these issues. |
Contents
Why SDI? | 1 |
Lessons of Recent History | 48 |
A Defense Transition? | 132 |
A Maginot Line of the Twentyfirst Century? | 217 |
SDI and Domestic Politics | 252 |
Calculating the Costs and Benefits | 291 |
Notes | 357 |
| 387 | |
| 399 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ABM systems ABM Treaty achieve agree agreement air defense aircraft allies argued arms control arms race ASATs ATBM Ballistic Missile Defense beam billion bombers boost phase capable commitment components contractors cooperation cost countermeasures critics cruise missiles decision decoys defense transition defensive systems deploy designed détente deterrence directed-energy weapons early deployment effective effort Europe feasible fense ground-based High Frontier Ibid ICBMs intercept interceptors interpretation issue launch launchers limited Marshall Institute ment military NATO negotiations Nitze nuclear attack nuclear weapons offensive forces offensive weapons Office orbit percent political president president's proposal radars Reagan administration reduce Reykjavík SALT II satellites SBKKVs scientists SDIO Senate sensors sides Soviet Union space space-based defenses Star Wars strategic defense Strategic Defense Initiative superpowers tactical targets technical tegic Teller testing threat tion tracking U.S. Congress United warheads X-ray laser