John Parmentola - The Cold War & Strategic Defense Initiative

Dr. John Parmentola shares personal insights about the Cold War & Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) based on his career experience in America's nuclear research defense establishment. We also discuss technical challenges of the SDI "nuclear shield", ICBM boost-phase interception, "Rods of God" vs. "Brilliant Pebbles", MIRV warheads & decoys, Nike Zeus ABM systems, Strategic Arms Reduction treaties, and public reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dr. John Parmentola is an Adjunct Staff member at the Rand Corporation, where he works on defense, energy, science, and technology strategy and planning. His career also includes experience as a Senior Vice President at General Atomics, the Director for Research and Laboratory Management for the U.S. Army, Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy, and Chief of Advanced Systems & Operations at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. He is an Honorary Member of the U.S. Army STs, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a recipient of the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives, U.S. Army 10 Greatest Inventions Award, the Alfred Raymond Prize, and the Sigma Xi Research Award, among many other awards and honors. Dr. Parmentola has a Ph.D. in Physics from M.I.T. and has served on the faculty of M.I.T., West Virginia University, and as a Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnparmentola/ https://johnparmentola.com/ Here is a link to the book, https://www.amazon.ca/Making-Space-Defense-Work-Superpowers/dp/0080359809 Here is a book review, https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2810693 Here is the SA article, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/particle-beam-weapons/ Here is Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/284219a0