SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative): where do we go from here. Study project

Technical Report · Tue Mar 29 23:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6846447

Dierker, R R

President Reagan's announcement five years ago of his vision for a Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) has had strong implications for the United States nuclear strategy. Implementation of any or all parts of a strategic defense system would constitute a shift away from the offense-dominant strategy that the U.S. has espoused for over forty years. Effecting a shift in U.S. nuclear strategy while maintaining stability between the superpowers is an extremely difficult task. Opponents of SDI have raised the question of whether we should pursue SDI and the ensuing shift in strategy at all. The only real question to be answered is how to effect a stable shift in U.S. strategy. The key to that shift is understanding and then considering the Soviets' views of SDI. The author discusses Soviet views of the U.S.'s Strategic Defense Initiative and then examines four possible U.S. options for SDI, ranging from unilateral deployment to use as a bargaining chip.

• Research Organization: Army War Coll., Carlisle Barracks, PA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6846447
• Report Number(s): AD-A-194544/3/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

350100* -- Arms Control-- Policy
Negotiations
& Legislation-- (1987-)
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
990500 -- Civilian Defense-- (-1987)
ARMS CONTROL
ASIA
BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
MILITARY STRATEGY
NATIONAL DEFENSE
NORTH AMERICA
STABILITY
USA
USSR