California born is our Nation’s Missile Defense Vision, as was so eloquently stated by the former California Governor and United States President Ronald Reagan in 1983. President Reagan’s transformative thinking on the issue of Missile Defense found its roots in Southern California with Dr. Edward Teller and Dr. William Van Cleave from the University of Southern California in the early 1980s.

39 years later, his vision remains as stoic, pure, and unbridled as his Ronald W. Reagan Memorial on a stunning California day. It stands on top of the highest hilltop in Vandenberg Space Force Base overseeing the vast Pacific, the infinity of Space, five missile defense silos with GBI interceptors, and the fruition of developed, deployed, layered, and active Israeli and Japanese missile defenses that President Reagan signed the initial MOUs for. 

“Wouldn’t it be better to save lives than to avenge them? Are we not capable of demonstrating our peaceful intentions by applying all of our abilities and our ingenuity to achieving a truly lasting stability? I think we are indeed. Indeed, we must.”

– Excerpt from President Reagan’s March 23, 1983 SDI Speech engraved on the MDAA Ronald W. Reagan Memorial’s plaque.

This past weekend, we brought our USC SHIELD ’23 Executive Education Program in Global Space and Deterrence to Vandenberg Space Force Base to be inspired, to learn, to see systems engineering at its best, and have them engage, discuss, and see the Vision of the Past, the Vision of the Current, and the Vision of the Future. 

California Dreaming on a Winter’s Day.