Did Mr. Niven collaborate with Heinlein, Pournelle and Clark to develop the concept of SDI and present it to President Reagan?
We believe that it was initially Jerry Pournelle’s idea to influence the space program, and Jerry brought in Niven and the other members of the Citizen’s Advisory Board to come up with a policy including the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” to present to President Reagan. While the “space umbrella” never came to fruition, whether through lack of technology or money, the program has been credited with the downfall of the Soviet Union. They tried to keep up with our spending, and it broke their economy. It is ironic that the Russians now seem quite our superior in the space industries.
