Teller’s War: The Top-Secret Story Behind The Star Wars Deception

So SDI was Teller's fault after all! Thus Broad, the distinguished science reporter for The New York Times, argues in this vivid and disturbing tale of private phantoms and public purposes. He portrays Teller as more and more isolated from his scientific peers but desperate for one last accomplishment, one that might balance history's scales for his having sired the H-bomb. And so he oversold the Strategic Defense Initiative and, in particular, the promise of X-ray lasers. In doing so, Broad argues, he not only deceived presidents but squandered money and scientific resources and, not least, actually set back more practical antimissile systems like the Patriot.