Tranquillity Alternative by Allen Steele

Author:Allen Steele [Steele, Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-3993-1
Publisher: Roca Editorial/Open Road Español
Published: 2013-08-05T20:14:00+00:00

From The Washington Post; January 12, 1981

Reagan Set to Launch New

Military Space Program

News Analysis

by Maureen McCoy

WASHINGTON—Only a week before his inauguration, part of President-elect Ronald Reagan’s transition team is already planning a new American space initiative. Although members of the group refuse to disclose its details at this time, insiders among Reagan’s so-called California kitchen cabinet say that the plans call for a revival of the long-dormant military space program.

Formally known as the Strategic Defense Working Group, its members include former NASA administrator James Fletcher, physicist Edward R. Teller, and former Air Force General Omar Bliss, who led the Blue Horizon project during World War II. The group is headed by William J. Casey, widely considered to be Reagan’s choice for Director of Central Intelligence.

Although the group will not propose reinstatement of the U.S. Space Force, which was phased out in the early 1970s during the Kennedy Administration, they will recommend that the White House pursue defense-related objectives as the nation’s first priority in space, with the U.S. Air Force being the lead agency instead of NASA. Possible suggestions include:

De-emphasis of basic scientific research, and shifting technological resources to space-based national defense, including development of a new generation of surveillance satellites;

Final authorization of a new “space shuttle” which will eventually replace NASA’s aging fleet of Atlas-C space ferries;

Downscaling operations at Tranquillity Base, and eventual curtailment of NASA lunar operations;

Opening the civilian space program to participation by American business, allowing U.S. private enterprise to compete on a “free market” basis with the burgeoning European space industry.

It is also possible that the Strategic Defense Working Group will recommend to the President-elect that the Air Force develop an orbital “space shield” of laser satellites, which would protect the United States against nuclear attack. Dr. Teller is known to be a leading advocate of this plan, and General Bliss made several public speeches urging the outgoing McGovern Administration to fund research in this area. Fletcher is regarded as an advocate of the space shuttle, an advanced spaceplane which was shelved during the McGovern Administration.

Teller and Bliss apparently have Governor Reagan’s ear. During the presidential campaign, Reagan made several references to the declining state of the American space program, which hinted at his interest in renewed military involvement. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last July, he spoke of NASA’s “liberal agenda” which placed “higher priority on studying moon rocks than on looking for ways to protect Americans.” Reagan also cited the $52 billion spent in the last decade on Project Ares, claiming that it was “money the Democrats invested in the Russian propaganda machine” which could have been better used for military space objectives.

Space was not a major topic in the 1980 campaign, compared to the economy and the Iran hostage crisis, yet it seems as if Reagan was able to play upon widespread disenchantment with NASA as a minor theme. President McGovern was never able to successfully answer Republican charges that the past three Democratic administrations turned NASA into a

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