Chat with Chic, September 13, 1984

CHAT WITH CHIC BY U.S. SENATOR CHIC HECHT SEPTEMBER 13, 1984 FOR YEARS MANY SO-CALLED DEFENSE EXPERTS HAVE BELIEVED THAT WE CAN BEST ENSURE AMERICA'S SAFETY BY BEING TOTALLY VULNERABLE TO A SOVIET ATTACK, WHILE THE SOVIETS ARE TOTALLY VULNERABLE TO ATTACK BY US. THIS POLICY, KNOWN AS MUTUAL ASSURED DESTRUCTION (MAD) BOILS DOWN TO THE NOTION THAT, IF ATTACKED, WE OUGHT TO DO NOTHING TO KEEP OURSELVES FROM BECOMING INNOCENT VICTIMS, BUT RATHER SHOULD RESPOND BY KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE IN THE SOVIET UNION. "MAD" RELIES ON THE UNTHINKABLE: THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THIS PLANET. V' : ' - THERE IS A BETTER APPROACH. ON MARCH 23, 1983, PRESIDENT REAGAN CALLED ON THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY "TO GIVE US THE MEANS OF RENDERING THESE NUCLEAR WEAPONS IMPOTENT AND OBSOLETE." THE PRESIDENT'S NOW-FAMOUS "STAR WARS" OR "HIGH FRONTIER" SPEECH TRIGGERED A NATIONAL DEBATE. MUTUAL ASSURED DESTRUCTION WOULD BE REPLACED BY A "DEFENSIVE" POLICY THAT WOULD DEPEND ON EXOTIC WEAPONS, HIGH-SPEED TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SUPER-FAST COMPUTERS. RETIRED ARMY LIEUT. DANIAL GRAHAM, A LEADING ADVOCATE OF SPACE WEAPONRY, BELIEVES TECHNOLOGY CURRENTLY EXISTS TO ORBIT MORE THAN 400 "KILLER SATELLITES" THAT COULD KNOCK OUT A ' S O V T E T ^ f S S I E E ATTACK. OUR SATELLITES WOULD LAUNCH DEFENSIVE MISSILES OR RELY ON LASERS AND PARTICLE BEAMS TO HELP DESTROY ENEMY TARGETS BY KINETIC ENERGY. SUCH A DEFENSE WOULD BE LAYERED OR MULTI-TIERED SO THAT WARHEADS SLIPPING THROUGH THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE WOULD BE INTERCEPTED BY THE PAGE 2. SECOND LINE AND SO FORTH. IN AN ATTACK/THE FIRST PHASE WOULD LAST ABOUT FIVE MINUTES DURING WHICH THE LIQUID-FUELED SOVIET ROCKETS, EACH CARRYING ROUGHLY 10 WARHEADS, CLIMB THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE. OBVIOUSLY IF A DEFENDER CAN DESTROY THE ROCKETS ".IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES HE NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT HUNTING AND KILLING THE INDIVIDUAL WARHEADS SOARING THROUGH SPACE. CONSEQUENTLY, .-MUCH OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH IS FOCUSED ON WEAPONS THAT COULD FIND AND CRIPPLE MISSILES DURING THE BOOST PHASE. ONE IMPORTANT WEAPON- THAT COULD PLAY A ROLE IN THIS SYSTEM IS THE X-RAY LASER DEVELOPED BY DR. EDWARD TELLER. THIS LASER, CODE NAMED "EXCALIBER," REPORTEDLY HAS ALREADY BEEN SECRETLY TESTED AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE. THE TEST SITE WOULD SEEM A LOGICAL LABORATORY FOR FUTURE EXPERIMENTS AND THUS WOULD HELP OUR OWN ECONOMIC PICTURE IN NEVADA. BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY THIS DEFENSIVE SYSTEM IS A FAR MORE REALISTIC APPROACH TO PEACE THAN IS A NUCLEAR FREEZE. A FREEZE" RIGHT NOW WOULD MAKE US LESS, NOT MORE, SECURE AND WOULD RAISE, NOT REDUCE, THE RISKS OF WAR. A FREEZE WOULD BE LARGELY UNVERIFIABLE AND WOULD SERIOUSLY UNDERCUT OUR NEGOTIATIONS ON ARMS REDUCTION. IT WOULD REWARD THE SOVIETS FOR THEIR MASSIVE MILITARY BUILDUP WHILE PREVENTING US FROM CONTINUING TO MODERNIZE OUR AGING AND INCREASINGLY VULNERABLE FORCES, F As THE PRESIDENT HAS OFTEN-NOTED, WHY SHOULD THE SOVIETS WITH THEIR MARGIN OF SUPERIORITY, AGREE-TO ARMS REDUCTIONS? WR-V.' HOPEFULLY, ONE DAY SOON ALL PEOPLE WILL LIVE SECURE" IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEIR SECURITY-RESTS, NOT UPON THE THREAT OF MASSIVE NUCLEAR RETALIATION TO DETER A SOVIET ATTACK, BUT RATHER ON THE FACT THAT WE COULD INTERCEPT AND DESTROY STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILES FROM ANY ENEMY BEFORE THEY REACH US OR OUR ALLIES.