"The critics said it would never work;
that it would bankrupt America; and
that it would trigger a preemptive
nuclear war.
Well...the critics were wrong on two points, were they wrong on the third?"

Well, in the 80's and in the timeframe reagan wanted, it wouldn't have worked. Hardly ANYONE said 'never', and those were the discountables. Both sides have those: ideology-driven under-informed idiots

In the 80s, yeah, it probably would have bankrupted america because the crash program needed to TRY bring those technologies to fruition (that are still barely getting off the gorund 20 years later) would have bankrupted america.

Plus, I think, the big threat from BIG powers will be the unseen fist- Stealth bombers, deep-running super-cavitating nuclear torpedoes (undetectable!), stealth cruise missiles... The things you can't see.

Missile defense is still worth a try, just to protect us from the little guys. But in the future the nuke will be the thing you don't see.

Davin