General Richardson will show that the debate over the strategic defense initiative is about a major change in U. S. strategy, not merely a new or different weapons system. Specifically, SDI represents the abandonment of the strategy of "mutually assured destruction" (MAD) in favor of a strategy of protection from destruction. His lecture will discuss the nature, origin, purpose, and historical precedents for this change in strategy. It will also discuss the need for near term deployments, its impact on U.S. Alies and their attitudes, and the likely outcome of the debate and its probable impact on the 1988 elections. Depending on time and intervening developments, relationships between the civil space program and SDI/HF (High Frontier) may also be dealt with.