One of the readers of my latest couple of blog posts asked me if I was smoking funny cigarettes. I don’t think he appreciated my satire. I really did not know I was in the satire business, until one of the readers of my book, “Death Rays and Delusions,” commented that I was trying to be another Voltaire. Being an engineer, I thought that was an automobile model, (perhaps a Chevy), so I looked it up and found Voltaire was a 16th century philosopher who poked fun at political leaders using a style characterized by wild exaggeration, irony and subtle humor. In my recent blog posts, I poked fun at the obviously silly idea of a new branch of the military, the space force. I knew enough about the subject that I figured the Air Force already had the job well in hand so I opined that one financial benefit would be the use of the surplus uniforms left over from the Star Trek TV series. My other post dealt with the concept that we could dominate space control through investing in new and revolutionary technologies.
In my book, I described the outrageous notions that we could defend ourselves against the threat of nuclear tipped ballistic missiles if we only had to deploy hundreds of giant space-based lasers, or thousands of tiny missiles, or maybe just a few orbiting nuclear weapons to create beams of x rays. When I was the chief scientist of the SDI program, I enjoyed the satirical humor in the “Bloom County “cartoons where I was described as a plump penguin who argued, “Why fer crying out loud…. research physicists need Porches too.”
Maybe the message of my book was lost in the satire, but my point was that decisions were being driven by the tech sales forces of the military industrial complex. They were extremely successful in extracting large sums for unlikely programs, that turned out to be the heart of an elaborate mind game with the Soviets.
The policy decision makers on both sides had no clue about the reality of the technology, but they were mostly motivated by their own philosophical, strategic and economic concepts. Gorbachev hated nukes, the arms race and the impending financial collapse of the Soviet empire. Reagan hated nukes, believed the Soviet Union was on the edge of financial extinction and was willing to make a deal that even shared our technology with the Soviets.
As it turns out, scientists and engineers were involved, but were only along for the ride. Many of them believed that their next miracle would give us the winning move.
SDI Guy 
Yep, your friend nailed your satire. So how would I ever know if you are being serious? Oleta ________________________________
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If my comments are totally outrageous, ironic, and hopefully humorous, you can be sure that there is a non zero probability that I am more than likely only slightly serious.
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I was seconded by the Army Ballistic Missile Office to the initial SDI cadre in which Gerry was Chief Scientist. Appointments were very much political, often independent of any technical or managerial expertise. It cried out that Army representatives be responsible for the kinetic energy weapons element and that the Air Force lead space based surveillance. I had as much a track record in high energy lasers as almost anyone, so I also worked with Lou Marquet (from DARPA at that time) in the Directed Energy Weapons element.
Although I am neither as vocal nor as opinionated as a Gerry, I offer first hand confirmation of some of Gerry’s statements.
The X-Ray Laser was a prominent part of the directed energy thrust. It was conceived by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, heavily marketed by Edward Teller. The outcome of a major proof of concept test was arguable. Teller and George Miller, then a director of LLNL, rushed to Lt Gen Abrahamson to solicit more funding to do the test again. They described the issues to be addressed in the next test, initially unplanned and unfunded. Lt Gen Abe asked Lou and I to participate. We listened, and Abe granted funding on the spot, without discussion. Lou and I retreated to a quiet place after the meeting, dismayed and confused. I told Lou that Teller and Miller had just revealed that the X Ray concept was flawed; that an additional test was not necessary or likely to succeed. But they were funded purely because it was “Edward” and his Lab, and the political consequences of rejection were unacceptable to Abe.
I don’t remember if Gerry was present, but I am sure that if he were I would not have forgotten!
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I was not at that meeting, but I did attend one with Edward, who claimed he could cut the schedule by 4 years, but he needed another 100 million dollars. He claimed Reagan had already promised the money, and he threatened Abe with a guilt trip, and it worked. The technical issues were not discussed.
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These incidents join many others that prove politics more important than technology. Influential condtituencies do not understand the physics. They accept pronouncements from putatively credible sources. If the proponents provide logical explanations with lots of big words, it does not matter much whether the concept is feasible or the claims false. Partisan communities take root, prospering from continuing funding. It is hard to arrest the momentum.
SDI is but one among several such juggernauts. (A literal example of immense, uncontrollable momentum.). others include the SST, MAD, and cold fusion.
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Bloom County got it wrong. I’m pretty sure you were more of a Corvette guy.
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You are correct! I had a 63 coupe!
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