TABLE OF CONTENTS : Nuclear defenses -- Ballistic missile defense and deterrence -- SDI technologies -- The Reagan genesis -- The ABM debate -- The case for strategic defense -- The case against strategic defense -- Conclusion -- Legal obstacles to demonstrating defenses -- Providing cost-effectiveness -- Offensive-defensive relationships -- Formal treaty linkages between offensive and defensive systems -- Negotiating strategy and SDI -- SDI and Soviet countermeasures -- SDI as an arms control dilemma -- The history of the offensive-defensive relationship -- Massing of ballistic missile forces -- Circumvention by bombers and cruise missiles -- Conventional superiority in Europe -- Conclusion -- The evolution of strategic defense -- Strategic defense and nuclear targeting -- The new strategic concept -- The irony of strategic defense -- Conclusion -- The future : arms control or technical follies -- Appendix A : concept definitions and constraints -- Appendix B : ABM treaty and associated documents -- Appendix C : excerpt from President Reagan’s March 23, 1983 speech.