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Strategic Defense Initiative

(Encyclopedia)Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), former U.S. government program responsible for research and development of a space-based system to defend the nation from attack by strategic ballistic missiles (se...

initiative

(Encyclopedia)initiative, the originating of a law or constitutional amendment by popular petition. It is intended to allow the electorate to initiate legislation independently of the legislature. This direct form ...

civil defense

(Encyclopedia)civil defense, nonmilitary activities designed to protect civilians and their property from enemy actions in time of war. A civil defense program usually includes measures taken during peace (e.g., bu...

Star Wars

(Encyclopedia)Star Wars: see Strategic Defense Initiative. ...

Defense, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)Defense, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to nationa...

Strategic Air Command

(Encyclopedia)Strategic Air Command (SAC), former command of the U.S. air force (see Air Force, United States Department of the) charged with organizing, training, equipping, administering, and preparing strategic ...

defense mechanism

(Encyclopedia)defense mechanism, in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud fi...

Strategic Command

(Encyclopedia)Strategic Command: see under Strategic Air Command. ...

Kendall, Henry Way

(Encyclopedia)Kendall, Henry Way, 1926–99, American physicist. A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kendall won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics with Jerome Friedman and Richard Taylor for a s...

Central European Initiative

(Encyclopedia)Central European Initiative, organization founded in 1991 to promote economic and political cooperation in the region between the Adriatic and Baltic seas. Members include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegov...