Hi Gary

I think anyone paying attention to all the work being done on high-efficiency solid-state lasers can see where the "hidden agenda" is going - but that's cool. Nuclear-powered laser-ICBM busters in orbit will mean serious work for efficient laser-power transmission, albeit indirectly. And if they want big UV-lasers for creating particle-gun channels through the atmosphere - another application, good for cruise missile killing - that's cool too.

If lasers can be made efficient - and high-efficiency is needed so laser-sats aren't one big IR target thanks to all that radiator area - then well and good. Powersats beaming from the Earth-Sun L1/2 points then become a whole lot easier because the beam is so much narrower with a laser.

Besides nuke-powered spy-sats might have a pretty IR glow, but they don't make as big targets as solar-arrayed colossii. Yet another design target for the "hidden agenda". And to really make space terrorist-free laser-defenses are a good option, toasting wannabe kinetic-kill vehicles before they can strike.

Adam