OPINION:
“Why Trump’s new space directive resonates” by Henry Cooper and Daniel Gallington (Web, Feb. 26) recalls events that took place soon after the initiation of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by President Reagan in March 1983.
As the SDI program progressed and American ingenuity solved the problem of hitting a bullet with a bullet, it became evident that an efficient and effective defense could only be mounted if ballistic missiles could be intercepted in their boost phase, before they could release countermeasures. From a defense point of view, this could only be achieved if the defensive elements were pre-positioned in space. A proof-of-principle experiment in 1986 confirmed the viability of the concept, but determined opposition by congressional leaders prevented further development work on it.
Times have changed, but have congressional opinions matured to the point where the security of the nation overcomes emotional opposition to the very concept of space-based defenses?
We are now far more dependent on suites of satellites for a wide variety of activities, such as national security, communications, commerce, banking and travel. Yet we have no means of protecting these assets against nations that are openly hostile to our very existence. We know that Russia and China have been developing newer missiles and other systems capable of disabling our satellites. As outlined by Messrs. Cooper and Gallington, it is way past time we awoke to these threats and, as they put it, “go back to the future.”
STANLEY ORMAN
Rockville, Maryland
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