The phantom defense : America's pursuit of the Star Wars illusion / Craig Eisendrath, Melvin A. Goodman and Gerald E. Marsh.

Includes index.

Print version record.

In the past four decades, the United States has spent $85 billion pursuing the fantasy of an effective missile defense system to shield our nation against the threat of a nuclear attack. Recent public tests, while less exotic than some of the original "Star Wars" proposals, were spectacular failures and call into question the whole program's rationale. Neither the land-based system proposed by the Clinton administration, nor the alternatives proposed by earlier administrations, would ever work--regardless of how much R & D money is channeled into the project. Rather than enhancing national security, these doomed efforts would provoke a new arms race and alienate key allies. The authors apply their extensive insiders' expertise to argue that thoughtful diplomacy is the only real answer to meet America's national security goals.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Ch. 1. Deja Vu All Over Again: A Short History of "Star Wars" -- Ch. 2. Anti-Missile Defense and the Political Maze -- Ch. 3. Two views of the World -- Ch. 4. The Exaggerated Threat of Ballistic Missiles -- Ch. 5. Why National Missile Defense Won't Work -- Ch. 6. Other Proposed National Missile Defense Systems -- Ch. 7. Geopolitical Implications of National Missile Defense -- Ch. 8. Arms Control and Policy Alternatives -- App. 1. Countermeasures -- App. 2. Waste, Fraud, and Abuse -- App. 3. The Center for International Policy.

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