The SDI is Dead! Long Live the SDI!

In the last month I have seen numerous articles in Canadian, U.S. and other papers announcing the Death of SDI. Phoenix-like it is still alive but with a new name — BMD.

Last month I attended a Software Engineering Conference in Baltimore in which numerous (bad) papers were presented about work on SDI software. At lunch, I had the company of a pleasant gentleman who worked at the “National Test Facility” in Colorado, formerly a major part of SDI, now a major part of BMD. His work, and that of those around him, has not changed a bit. The budget for his organisation has not changed a bit. No contracts will be changed. The only change, besides the name, is that the head of the organisation no longer reports directly to the Secretary of Defense but reports several levels lower.

The Pentagon is quite skilled at surviving changes in the political wins. Remember when Carter “killed” the B-1, but a prototype was sitting on a runway when Reagan took over? It would be very useful if members would, by letters and remarks, help to kill the myth that SDI is dead.

In the meantime, those of us who retained our cereal-box “secret code” rings can set “B” = “S”, “M” = *“D”, and “D” = “I”