Chat with Chic, May 1985

Chat with Chic A Report from Washington May 1985 Dear Friend: On April 11,1 addressed a joint session of the Nevada Legislature. Most of my remarks outlined the great benefits our state could derive from the President's plan to make nuclear war obsolete, the Strategic Defense Initiative, known also as "Star Wars." The SDI is our best hope for preventing a nuclear holocaust. Senator Laxalt and I have been working to get research and development into the nuclear reactor power supply for this exciting defensive system located in Nevada. The Nevada Test Site's E-MAD facility, which is currently facing mothballing, would make an excellent laboratory for this first-stage research program. The potential economic benefits are staggering. The initial stage is only $500 million. But the next, follow-on pro-gram will total $26 billion. Then, as the Washington Post has estimated, the total cost could reach one trillion dollars. Nevada is one of several states vying for this nuclear reactor research program which is called Space Program 100 (SP-100). Because of the importance of this project which is our next step forward into space, I thought you might want to have some background. As a Nevadan, you have an economic stake in SP-100. I hope you find this special newsletter of interest. I invite your views. Sincerely, STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE WHAT IS IT? In March 1983, President Reagan established as a long-term national goal an end to the threat of ballistic missies. He said that, "we must thoroughly examine every oppor-tunity for reducing tensions and for introducing stability into the strategic calculus on both sides." He asked the scientif-ic community to give the United States "the means of ren-dering" the ballistic missile threat "impotent and obsolete." With that bold challenge, a study team composed of leading scientists and engineers of this country was formed and worked under the leadership of Dr. James C. Fletcher. The Fletcher Commission identified a long-term, technically feasible research and development plan that is known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Since the 1960's, the United States has pursued a de-terrent policy known as Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). The premise of this policy is that nuclear war will be deterred by threatening to attack the civilian population of any nation which initiates a nuclear first-strike. While the policy of MAD has been somewhat successful, many people raised questions about this approach such as: ?Is it moral to threaten innocent civilians? ?Does the Soviet Union really accept this policy and behave accordingly? ?What about other nuclear nations? ?Is the Soviet Union developing its own SDI? SDI proposes to deter war not by building more nuclear offensive missiles and threatening civilians, but by defend-ing the United States and its allies. Specifically, SDI is a research program to develop those technologies necessary to make defense possible. BOOST PHASE Surveillance Satellite d e t e c t s l a u n c h DEPLOYMENT PHASE MIDWAY PHASE TERMINAL PHASE _ , ... Space Based Sensor Relay Mirror ,RA R CK5 ,CRMS AN4 reflects laser beam l r a ? ? i l s i j t l ,0 from ground b,?|c B a t i 0 n s , * v ^ Battle Station , c h c m i c a ! laser "Pop Up" X-Ray Laser submarine launched Battle Station n e u t r a l particle beam \ Warheads and dcco;s , IS. Ground Based Beam Weapon 1st STAGE 3 minutes Chart/Senate Republican Conference % "S-x Cr 2nd STAGE' 3rd STAGE 11 minutes 26 minutes 4th STAGE 29 minutes WHY IS THERE OPPOSITION TO SDI? Immediately after the President's speech critics began calling SDI "Star Wars" and claiming that it was not pos-sible. The opposition to SDI can be classified into three categories: ?Those who gave us MAD and feel obliged to defend that policy even if it no longer is appropriate. ?Those who do not believe that technology can meet the challenge of strategic defense. [These same people did not believe that we could land a man on the moon and bring him back.] ?Those well-meaning people who are opposed to nuclear weapons and hope they will go away. U.S. security, however, cannot be based on the hope that our adversaries, who have continually reaffirmed their commitment to world domination, will simply stop their unprecedented military build-up. The Apollo program, which took man to the moon, cost the American taxpayer over $80 billion. According to Chase Econometrics, for each dollar spent on the space pro-gram, the economy benefited by at least $10 in the jobs creat-ed, industries spawned, and standard of living improvement. Some of the results of the space program which we take for granted are: ?advanced computers ?digital watches ?cheaper and better telephone communications ?cheap, reliable calculators ?worldwide television coverage ?fireproof clothing ?better health care ?improved weather forecasting all of which were non-existent prior to the space program or have been tremendously enhanced by it. WHAT WILL THE MONEY BE USED FOR? The SDI program is a five-year, $26 billion research program to identify promising technologies that can con-tribute to defending the United States and its allies against nuclear ballistic weapons. The President has not embarked on the deployment of any weapons in space or on earth. The SDI program will provide new technologies and answers to policy-makers for many of the questions which have been raised about SDI such as: ?Is the technology for strategic defense mature enough for deploying a system or part of a system? ?What will be the cost of a defensive system? _ ?When can a system be deployed? ?Can the Soviets effectively penetrate such a system? On the basis of the answers to these and other ques-tions, the President and the Congress can make intelligent decisions about the future of SDI based on facts and not on speculation. WILL THE COST OF SDI HURT THE ECONOMY? While $26 billion is a lot of money, the economy will benefit far in excess of the cost. As with all major research programs, new technologies will be developed that will have other applications. Each time new technology is developed, new products, new industries, and new ways of solving problems follow. HOW WILL SDI BENEFIT NEVADA? The people of Nevada, as all Americans, will live in a more secure and stable world and see a rise in their stan-dard of living because of the investment in SDI. But the benefits can be even more tangible for Nevada if the state supports SDI and encourages investment in Nevada. Just as the space program brought economic develop-ment to many cities, counties, and states, so will SDI. Be-cause of its unique location and resources, Nevada can become a center for the research, technologies, and indus-tries of the future. The first step is the SP-100, a program to develop a safe nuclear energy source of power for use in space. Federal research in Nevada will be followed by private sector investment with: ?new jobs ?new industries ?new sources of tax revenue ?an improvement in higher education due to increased finan-cial support for education and the relationship which nor-mally exists between research institutes and universities ?an improvement in economic welfare of Nevada and its people. These types of benefits have already occurred in Houston, Cambridge, Huntsville, and Los Angeles from the space program. SDI will offer an even greater benefit than the space program. Nevada, however, must encourage the federal government to turn to our state as a research center for SDI through support for the program, tax policies that encourage investment, and extensive lobbying for the pro-grams of SDI. UNITED STATES SENATE Washington, D.C. 20510 PUBLIC DOCUMENT NEVADA u.s.s. OFFICIAL BUSINESS Postal Patron BLK. RT. CAR-RT-SORT