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Other requirements, according to Fletcher: "The computers must be able to operate in a nuclear environment and must be hardened to survive radiation and shock. To keep crucial command, control and communications capabilities out of the fray, some of the computers would be placed in high orbit halfway to the moon." Humans would make the key strategic decisions in advance, determining under what conditions the missile defense would start firing, and devise a computer system that could translate those decisions into a program. In the end the defensive response would be out of human hands: it would be activated...
...that question, a highly problematic one. The document envisions a "period of transition," starting around 1995, during which both sides would still have their offensive nuclear missiles. Those weapons would be protected by a latter-day version of ABMs called ballistic missile defense, or BMD. If American missiles and command centers were effectively guarded with radar-guided interceptors and death rays that could destroy incoming warheads, the Soviet Union would never be tempted to think that it could disarm and decapitate the U.S. with a pre-emptive strike. In principle, the Soviets could have a similar system...
...Reagan's part, he was eager to spread the word. What he enjoyed most, his intimates say, was describing "a vision of the future that offers hope." Reagan's enthusiasm eventually silenced doubts down the chain of command. He was now personally engaged in nuclear affairs as never before. In the six weeks between the J.C.S. meeting and his televised speech, he had drastically changed U.S. strategic policy...
Once he is ready to launch the final takeover battle, Pickens sets up a command post at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria or Helmsley Palace hotels. From there, he directs the action like a general, keeping in round-the-clock touch with allies and moneymen across the country. "He's incredibly well plugged in," says a Wall Street financier. "One of his great strengths is that he has more sources than anyone." Notes an investment banker: "He's an absolutely brilliant poker player, though there's a little chess in his game...
...last week long on pricey players, short on revenues and looking down the barrel of its own decision to take on the towering National Football League with a switch to a fall schedule in 1986. Even so, new U.S.F.L. Commissioner Harry Usher, fresh from his triumphs as second-in-command of last summer's Olympics, insists that "the state of the league has never been more positive than it is now." Looking back, he may be right...