Physicist Ralph Lapp was part of the Manhattan Project, and long served as a nuclear specialist for the Defense Department. In recent years, however, he has severed connections with all Government projects and thus is free to speak out on U.S. nuclear and weapons policies. Speak out he does. Last week at the University of Washington, Lapp not only criticized the U.S. decision to deploy a thin anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense system, but also pointed out the damage the system could wreak on the very population it was intended to protect.
Calling the ABM move a political decision made to...