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U.S. Department of Energy
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SDI - pie in the sky

Journal Article · · Bull. At. Sci.; (United States)

Proponents of the controversial Strategic Defense Initiatives (SDI)reverse arrowfeel that the will to succeed will be as significant a factor as capability in their effort to make defense a popular concept. They reject the idea that a defensive system must be perfect, and want to loosen the hold of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and Salt II. More than an improvement to deterrence, the goal of SDI is to make a technological leap over the Soviet Union to make its military investments obsolete. Scientists find research on defensive weapons more rewarding than work on offensive systems. Critics need to understand that the force of SDI is ideological in that it rejects the concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD) and concedes that nuclear war is possible.

Research Organization:
Inst. for Policy Studies, Washington, DC
OSTI ID:
6117130
Journal Information:
Bull. At. Sci.; (United States), Journal Name: Bull. At. Sci.; (United States) Vol. 40:4; ISSN BASIA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English