The Intelligent Layperson's Guide to "Star Wars"; 16 Questions & Answers on Strategic Defense and Space Weaponry

xix, [1], 59, [1] pages. Illustrations (color). Strategic Defense Glossary. For Further Reading. Introduction by Frank R. Barnett. Erasure residue on half-title page. Cover has some wear and soiling. Frank R. Barnett was the founder of the National Strategy Information Center. Mr. Barnett's interest in national security studies grew from a belief that questions of war and peace should not be the left to Federal officials and the military alone. He worked to develop educational programs in conjunction with the American Bar Association, universities, organized labor and business. He founded the center in 1962. Its goal was to bring together leaders of public opinion and provide information on national defense and international security. Known for its anti-Communist and pro-military stance, the center continued to monitor the military equations after the demise of the Soviet Bloc. It also conducted research on American intelligence policy and sponsored unclassified workshops with intelligence specialists. 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 concept was first announced publicly by President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983. Reagan was a vocal critic of the doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD), which he described as a "suicide pact", and he called upon the scientists and engineers of the United States to develop a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete. A wide array of advanced weapon concepts, including lasers, particle beam weapons and ground- and space-based missile systems were studied, along with various sensor, command and control, and high-performance computer systems that would be needed to control a system consisting of hundreds of combat centers and satellites spanning the entire globe. Follow-on efforts and spin-offs continue to this day.…