Private Sector Key to Revitalizing SDI, 'Iron Dome'

(Editor's Note: The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement of any political party, or candidate, on the part of Newsmax.)

The recent film, "Reagan" (MJM Entertainment/ShowBiz Direct) illustrates the importance of our nation's 40th commander in chief's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

The movie "inserts" his March 31, 1983 speech launching SDI.

And yes, as it should, it features the very historically famous moment when "The Gipper" walked out of the Oct.11-12, 1986 Reykjavik, Iceland summit because then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was insisting he give up SDI.

I remember these events all too well, and actually the film understates SDI’s importance.

As Britain’s then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher observed during her Aug. 3, 1990 Colorado Springs visit to SDI’s National Text Facility to view many components being developed at the time:

"I firmly believe it was the determination to embark on the SDI Program and to continue it that eventually convinced the Soviet Union that they could never, never, never achieve their aim by military might because they would never succeed . . . "We must always keep our defenses sharp and must always keep our technology well ahead."

This sound observation is the context for the Aug. 14, 2017 Newsmax article in which USAF Retired Lt. General Jim Abramson and this writer welcomed Trump’s recently announced increase in funding for Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).

We former SDI Directors argued that space-based defenses should be front-and-center in that enhanced effort.

But that did not happen.

Then, Trump’s 2019 initiative in establishing a U.S. Space Force prompted me again to hope for the revival of the most important programs of the SDI era — especially Brilliant Pebbles, the only truly cost-effective BMD system concept (meeting the so-called Nitze Criteria — of being technically feasible, survivable and cost-effective at the margin) of the SDI era, which ended with 1992 arrival of the Clinton administration when his Defense Secretary Les Aspin "took the Stars out of Star Wars."

See Donald Baucom’s "The Rise and Fall of Brilliant Pebbles" for this important history that documented the "season of studies" by Defense Department authorities as well as from the very competent outside scientific community.

Also, Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger’s representative to our Geneva talks, Daniel Gallington, and I reviewed this entire period in our Dec. 6, 2021 Newsmax Article, "Lets Correct the Record, Reagan had it Right."

But that did not happen during the past Trump administration, in spite of efforts by former SDI participants . . . including Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin, who had served as the SDI Assistant Director for Technology during the “season of studies” period mentioned above.

Whatever . . . Trump’s announced advocacy for building "An Iron Dome over the United States" (and the inclusion of this objective in the Republican Platform) is reason for hoping that, if he's elected, we may revive that Brilliant Pebbles concept and realize Ronald Reagan’s hopes for his SDI effort and hopes for a space-based defense."

But we can expect the usual claims that Trump’s Iron Dome concept would be far too expensive, just as suggested by a recent skeptical Economist article, "Can Donald Trump’s Iron Dome Plan Keep America Safe?"

I much prefer the optimistic, very positive Aug. 26, 2024 Fox News article by Rebeccah Heinrichs, "Trump is right about an Iron Dome Missile Shield for the US Homeland."

Ms. Heinrichs notes that Trump has credited Reagan’s SDI and, especially from my perspective, on Jan. 17, 2019 at the Pentagon, he said:

"[W]e will recognize that space is a new warfighting domain, with the Space Force leading the way. My upcoming budget will invest in a space-based missile defense layer. It’s new technology. It’s ultimately going to be a very, very big part of our defense and, obviously, of our offense."

She also observed, "Trump could respond to his critics by pointing to the 2023 report of the U.S. Strategic Posture Commission, which said, "DOD [Department of Defense] must look at new approaches to achieving U.S. missile defense goals, including the use of space-based and directed energy capabilities, as simply scaling up current programs is not likely to be effective."

I’d only observe that it is clear that extending much more expensive defensive systems will not meet the "Nitze Criteria."

Rather, this writer would emphasize that, as for the original Brilliant Pebbles effort outlined above, it's critically important that we turn to relying on the private sector for rapidly advancing technology, rather than totally relying on the significantly more lethargic government development efforts.

We should point to the efforts of Elon Musk for such advances, for they have regularly overcome more lethargic government efforts.

Apparently, others also may have also come to this point-of-view that guided the original SDI efforts. See Courtney Albon’s April 10, 2024 C4ISRNET report that the Space Command is Now Relying More on Commercial Sector," and his Aug. 16, 2024 Defense News article, "Defense Science Board Calls for Greater Commercial Space Tech Adoption," which endorses that approach.

So, I’ll keep my fingers crossed and stay tuned, as we all should.

Ambassador Henry F. (Hank) Cooper, a PhD engineer with a broad defense and national security career, was President Ronald Reagan's Chief Defense and Space Negotiator with the Soviet Union and Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) Director during the George H.W. Bush administration. Read Ambassador Cooper's Reports — Here.