Blog

When President Reagan introduced his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983, opponents and critics in Congress sarcastically referred to the program as “Star Wars.” Such degrading rhetoric was meant to conjure up notions of Dearth Vader and Han Solo, suggesting somehow that Reagan’s vision was as far-fetched as Luke Skywalker trying to destroy the Death Star with one well-placed shot.

All joking aside, comparisons between the Soviet Union and the “Dark Side” were actually quite astute. As if facing-off with “light-sabers,” Reagan described the mutual defense posture of the U.S. and Soviet Union as two westerners standing in a saloon aiming their guns at each other’s head — permanently. Reagan’s visionary solution was to invent a defensive weapon that could intercept nuclear weapons and destroy them as they emerged from their silos. He named this vision SDI.

In order to work toward his goal, Reagan announced that he was directing a comprehensive and intensive effort to define long-term R&D to achieve his goal. Without his long-term foresight, the “Brilliant Pebbles” program that was halted by the Clinton Administration in 1993 would never have materialized. In short, it is long-term efforts that enable short-term progress, a lesson that our leaders today should wisely heed.