Strategic Defense Initiative
 Strategic Defense Initiative  (Technology, Missile defense)    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Start | 1984 |
| Interest of | • Robert Bowman • Angelo Codevilla • Henry Cooper |
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). The SDI was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in a nationwide television address on March 23, 1983. Because parts of the defensive system that Reagan advocated would be based in space, it was dubbed "Star Wars program", after the space weaponry of a popular motion picture of the same name.[1]
Support
In 1985 Cercle member Fred Iklé told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "The Strategic Defense Initiative is not an optional program, at the margin of the defense effort. It's central, at the very core of our long term policy for reducing the risk of nuclear war."[2] In April 1985, after a Pentagon report raised doubts about the admissibility of SDI under the ABM Treaty, Iklé and Perle hired Philip Kunsberg, a New York lawyer with no experience of arms control, who reached a contrary opinion.[3]
Related Quotation
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Bowman | “Technological feasibility of a defensive shield is entirely irrelevant, because Star Wars has nothing to do with defense. It is an attempt to deploy offensive weapons disguised as defense.
In 1982, in his secret defense guidance document, Ronald Reagan ordered the Department of Defense to develop Star Wars weapons, and he assigned them two missions. One: Destroy opposing satellites and seize control of space. Two: Destroy targets on the surface of the earth from space without warning. There wasn't a word in there about shooting down ballistic missiles. That was a smokescreen for the American people, because they knew that the American people would never approve weapons in space for offensive purposes.” | Robert Bowman | 2007 |
References
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Strategic-Defense-Initiative
- ↑ Frances Fitzgerald, Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan: Star Wars and the End of the Cold War, Touchstone, 2000, p.243.
- ↑ Frances Fitzgerald, Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan: Star Wars and the End of the Cold War, Touchstone, 2000, p.295.
