SDI and Organizational Politics Of Military R&D

Abstract

While the Reagan administration's decision to pursue the Strategic Defense Initiative was not the result of organizational or bureaucratic pressures, these factors are becoming increasingly important in determining the nature of the program. The creation of the SDI Organization as an independent office within the Department of Defense has provided promoters of this effort with a bureaucratic base from which to increase budgets and power in the decision-making process. Being highly centralized and independent, however, the SDIO can serve as the focus for congressional opponents and critics of SDI. In addition to diplomatic and technological developments, these organizational and bureaucratic factors will contribute significantly to determining the level of funding and the direction of the program in the "post-Reagan" period.