What is the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)?
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a national ballistic missile defense program for the United States launched by a speech by President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983. Reagan said, “I call upon the scientific community who gave us nuclear weapons to turn their great talents to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.” This has been referred to as the “Star Wars” speech, as it was initially detracted as science fiction and a waste of money. The Strategic Defense Initiative eventually came to be known colloquially as the Star Wars. The SDI was shut down in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, and replaced by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), putting a greater emphasis on regional rather than national missile defense. Over 10 years, the Strategic Defense Initiative spent $25 billion US Dollars on research and testing, but never achieved its objective of producing a reliable anti-missile system.
