Word: drell
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...control stem from the peculiar nature of nuclear weapons. Because they are too powerful to use and too powerful to defend against, nuclear weapons are selfdeterring. The two nations that possess such huge arsenals of last resort dare not go to war against each other. As Stanford Physicist Sidney Drell put it during the TIME conference, mutual assured destruction (MAD) ''is not a policy but a condition.'' There is something almost poetic in the concept: for the first time in history, two major enemies have kept the peace by keeping themselves vulnerable. Not that either is comfortable with that vulnerability...
...research on strategic defenses would still be forbidden. Since purpose would be a matter of declared intention, the American SDI would be outlawed, while the Soviets could continue testing huge high-energy lasers in Central Asia by claiming that they were for medical purposes. Even SDI skeptics like Sidney Drell believe that the U.S. should maintain a vigorous--and very purposeful--research program in strategic defense for two reasons: as insurance against breakthroughs that the Soviets might come up with in their program and as a hedge against the remote possibility that someone, someday, really does discover a defensive technology...
...deadly warheads drop back into earth's atmosphere heading toward their targets. The most important of these is the boost phase, during which an ICBM's multiple warheads are still onboard and can be knocked out with a single shot. Hitting a missile in boost, says Stanford Physicist Sidney Drell, ''is like tackling the quarterback before he can throw the ball.'' SDI Director Air Force Lieut. General James Abrahamson told the TIME conference it represents the ''big payoff'' of Star Wars. Boost phase provides certain other opportunities for the defender. As missiles rocket through the atmosphere, their thrusters emit...
...cheaper and more reliable ways to defend the U.S. capability to retaliate. Among those suggested at the conference: hardening missile silos and developing a system of mobile missiles that would be less vulnerable to attack. If protecting silos is the real aim of SDI, asked Stanford Physicist Sidney Drell, why has the Administration dropped all funding for the one defensive system now known to be an effective terminal defense: nuclear-tipped interceptor missiles? Though he personally does not favor an active missile defense, Drell questioned the logic of diverting money from available off-the-shelf technology and using...
...more emphasis on low-flying missiles, like the cruise, that would not be vulnerable to space defenses. The satellites could also be vulnerable. "Many potential counters, such as decoys or space mines, have the power to neutralize space-based systems," says Stanford University Physicist and Arms Control Expert Sidney Drell. His colleague Arthur Schawlow, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on developing the laser, agrees: "A laser battle station out in space would be a sitting duck...