First published 1987
Senator William Proxmire stares at the classified documents spread across his desk. The reports he and Senator J. Bennett Johnston commissioned reveal damning truths about America's Strategic Defense Initiative. Douglas Waller takes readers inside the corridors of power as these two senators grapple with evidence from over sixty SDI scientists, engineers, and project managers who broke their silence about the program's fundamental flaws. The first report catalogs the mounting technical problems plaguing strategic defense systems, while the second exposes the staggering costs of launching weapons, sensors, and battle management systems into space. As Proxmire and Johnston digest briefings from the nation's three national weapons laboratories, the Air Force Space Division, and major defense contractors, they face a political nightmare. The initiative they once supported appears built on shaky foundations and astronomical price tags that taxpayers never anticipated.
Genres: science, political-science, non-fiction, military-history, academic, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: political-thriller
Setting: America, United States
Period: 20th-century
174 pages · Paperback · Regina Books