Those who have followed my Newsmax articles know that I strongly support space-based systems to defend the United States and our friends and allies, realizing the vision of the Directors of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
Further, we repeatedly disputed exaggerated claims that such defenses would be far too expensive to be affordable.
Such exaggerated claims reflected the views of many uninformed scientists, who preferred (and I believe still prefer) arms control for protecting the American people (and our allies and friends around the world).
They either ignore or are ignorant of studies conducted by their predecessors in JASON, an elite group of scientists including Nobel Prize winners.
In a critical review from the 1990s, JASON concluded that there were "no showstoppers" to deploying space-based interceptors, based on the technology available at the time in the private sector. This review specifically examined the proposal by Lawrence Livermore Laboratories to develop "Brilliant Pebbles" aimed at protecting the American people, as well as our friends and allies.
USAF Retired Lt. General James A. Abrahamson (the first SDI Director who began Brilliant Pebbles over 30 years ago as a special access program) joined me in two key articles rebutting then-recent (and still existent) exaggerated cost estimates.
Our July 21, 2017 Wall Street Journal Letter to the Editor rebutted a previous Journal article that claimed greatly exaggerated (by a factor of 5-10) the costs for building space-based interceptors then — and our August 14, 2017 Newsmax article further elaborated this important point.
In our 2017 Journal article, we reported that the 1989 Brilliant Pebbles promised an over 90% probability of kill of all of a "limited" strike of up to 200 attacking re-entry vehicles — the number then controlled by a Russian submarine commander. It's better than anything we have today.
It became the SDI era's first formally approved (by the Pentagon Acquisition Authorities) ballistic-missile defense system. It had a validated cost estimate of $10 billion in 1988 dollars (now about $20 billion) for concept definition and validation, development, deployment and 20 years operation of that constellation of 1,000 Brilliant Pebbles (including replacing each Pebble once).
This system is not particularly expensive, especially considering that it uses commercially available technology. It was designed to intercept attacking ballistic missiles during their boost phase, while their rockets are still firing.
This allows the system to engage missiles before they can release decoys and other countermeasures. Additionally, it is capable of intercepting missiles throughout their flight, including during high-altitude re-entry, making it effective against the current generation of hypersonic missiles.
Commercial sector advances, like Space-X's multiple use of first-stage launchers, would reduce costs further. Thus, we urged that the Journal re-evaluate its cost estimates for truly effective space-based defenses and to advocate private-sector involvement and innovation to keep the costs down, as did Brilliant Pebbles.
No other BMD concept promises this global capability any time soon — especially at that cost, and it could have been operational today had it not been "politically incorrect" in 1993.
As I recalled this history, I read the May 12 commentary, "Why We Are So Scared Of Space, And How This Fear Can Drive Conspiracy Theories." Interesting article, and perhaps a general explanation of why many in the scientific community oppose and exaggerate the difficulty of building effective space-based defenses.
But I am most encouraged by the May 13 Washington Times front page article, "Trump Considers Czar to Fast Track Golden Dome." Hear! Hear!
I only hope that the president follows the Reagan model that similarly employed what might have been called a "Czar" in establishing SDI under the explicit control initially of USAF Lt. Gen. Jim Abrahamson, followed by USAF Lt. Gen. George Monahan and then by yours truly.
We enjoyed the explicit and often demonstrated support of the president and secretary of Defense, which enabled us to sidestep much bureaucratic impedance so that SDI could advance as rapidly as possible.
I would emphasize that "Bureaucracy, not Technology," provides the biggest impedance to progress. Thus, SDI ended with the arrival of the Clinton administration, which disestablished SDI and returned to the bureaucratic order with an emphasis on the most expensive, least effective, land-based ballistic missile defense systems.
And I worry that with the possible move of Golden Dome management to Alabama, that ill-directed focus will continue. I urge readers to review Don Baucom's history of "The Rise and Fall of Brilliant Pebbles" before making this ill-fated move, and assure we do not repeat that mistake again. You'll find a link to it in my joint Newsmax article with Gen. Abrahamson linked above.
Ambassador Henry F. Cooper, a PhD engineer with a broad defense and space national security career, was President Reagan's Chief Defense and Space Negotiator with the Soviet Union and SDI Director during the George H.W. Bush Administration. Read Ambassador Cooper's Reports here.
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