During his presidency, Reagan embarked on the largest military buildup in American history in his attempt to end the Cold War. In 1983 he launched the Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed "Star Wars." Reagan wanted to create a defense system that would intercept and destroy Soviet missiles. Although it was never actually deployed, the system has become a precursor for some of the ideas Trump has put forward. Such policies have the potential to destabilize the world.
I found this short film from the 1980s that advocates for an early version of the Strategic Defense Initiative: STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE STAR WARS RONALD REAGAN. It demonstrates Reagan's opposition to MAD: he called it a "dual suicide pact" and believed that the United States needed something more than just deterrence to protect the American people. "Star Wars" would destroy MAD because it would give the United States an advantage in stopping Soviet missiles. Reagan's final SDI focused on the development of lasers and particle beams to shoot down enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles. It would rely on a network of ground-based and space-based systems. Reagan also hoped this policy would reassert America's world power.
Critics of "Star Wars" questioned whether the plan was truly strategic or technologically feasible. It faced a lot of public opposition as the nuclear freeze movement grew momentum in the early 1980s. People were afraid that it would reignite the arms race and escalate the Cold War. Not to mention it would violate the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. In 1987, the American Physical Society decided that it was not possible to achieve Reagan's aims with the existing technology and the program dwindled.
When Bush became president he shifted the program's focus to theater missile defense and called the organization Global Protection Against Limited Strikes. He also cut the proposed costs from $53 billion to $41 billion. Clinton continued Bush's policies, focusing on regional coverage, and changed the name to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in 1993. Then in 2002 it became known as the Missile Defense Agency as it is today.
Trump has stated that he wants to expand the United States' missile defense program because he sees North Korea, Iran, China and Russia as threats. He has proposed technologies similar to Reagan's, such as lasers and space-based systems. As we saw with Reagan's initiative, this plan would be costly, may not work technologically, and could lead to another dangerous arms race.
I found your post to be interesting, mostly because it was about something almost completely different than what I was expecting (the only similarity between this and the Star Wars movie is the lasers). I was unaware that President Trump was following in Reagan's footsteps in terms of the missile defense program. The president aims to enable American with capability of detecting and destroying any missile launches directed toward the US. By the looks of it, what Trump is proposing has been deemed impossible. "It would be technically unachievable, and economically ruinous if you tried," said the Union of Concerned Scientists.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-missile-defense-review/