The ORSA Guidelines Report---A Retrospective

In 1969 there was a lengthy debate in the US senate and before its committees on the ABM (or AntiBallistic Missile) which was designed to shoot down the ICBM (or InterContinental Ballistic Missile). The ABM had been developed over many years at a cost of a few billions of dollars, and it was now proposed to manufacture and install this weapons system for the defense of the continental United States at a cost of many billions of dollars. This debate was salutary because, among other things, it was the first time that the technological arguments, which should be one of the important considerations in such a political decision as whether to deploy an ABM, were fully explored before the public.