Selected Memories of a Defense Dilettante

About the Book

The Cold War together with its accompanying Arms Race existed for some forty five years. Many of those working in science and technology had only known the applications of these skills within the framework of, and applied to, this arms race. Experiences of World War II resulted in the concept of the strategic use of military force being considered to be synonymous with area bombing and the destruction of civilian populations. The introduction of the Atomic Bomb at the end of the war with Japan merely emphasized this conclusion. Finally, some fifteen years after World War II, the introduction of the capability for rapid delivery of nuclear weapons by means of indefensible, long range, highly accurate, ballistic missiles made this concept very neat and complete.

The technological challenges introduced in the designing for the use of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems in the context of this arms race were indeed exciting. All the best talents were applied, and an almost inexhaustible supply of funds was made available.

It is within this environment that Marvin Stern spent most of his professional career. Achieving a rank of second or third tier technologist in the Defense area, it was intellectually most stimulating to meet, and at times to work with, some of the world's great scientists who had contributed to the initiation and development of the atomic bomb. Stern was also fortunate to have been able to work with the leaders in the development of aircraft and missile delivery systems and with those responsible for the application of "game-theoretic" approaches in analyses of operational uses of these weapon systems.

Marvin Stern, while working as an aircraft engineer, pursued graduate studies in mathematics. Upon earning his doctorate in mathematics in June of 1954, he went to work at Convair in San Diego on the first U.S. ICBM, the Atlas. Within hours after his arrival at Convair, he solved an “unsolvable problem” and earned early recognition. He was then given the responsibility of managing a consulting group consisting of the top twenty scientists in the country. This consulting group included men such as Theodore Von Karman, Richard Courant, Hans Bethe, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller, George Gamow, John Wheeler, and Fred Seitz, together with political scientist, Henry Kissinger, and economist, Oskar Morgenstern. Due to the influences of these senior scientists, he became helpful in creating the environment for production of scientific talent and for its application to Defense problems.

Upon hearing of Marvin Stern’s accomplishment, UCLA prevailed upon him to teach an evening course in graduate mathematics under the title, UCLA Graduate Extension Program in San Diego. This was then extended to include several other graduate courses, and Stern became Chairman of the UCLA Graduate Extension Program in San Diego, all this in addition to his full time job at Convair. In the late 1950s, he further extended this by assisting in the origination of the University of California at San Diego with initial emphasis on the training of scientists. In addition, at about that time Stern conceived of and initiated the Jasons, a mechanism for exposing bright young university professors throughout the country to technical problems of Defense in order to stimulate them in areas for research. Of the first 100 participants in Jason, eight of them subsequently won Nobel prizes.

In August of 1960, Marvin Stern went to work in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering, for Strategic Systems. Soon after joining the Department of Defense, he became aware of a series of accidents, each of which could have resulted in the detonation of a nuclear weapon or in an inadvertent or unauthorized launch of a nuclear delivery system. Aggressively pursuing this area, he was able to introduce certain additional mechanisms for stability and control. He convinced both the United

About the Author

Marvin Stern, educated in engineering and mathematics, spent most of his adult life working in the fields of Defense and National Security during the era of the Cold War. He was helpful in creating the environment for production of scientific talent and for its application to Defense problems. He assisted in the origination of the University of California at San Diego with initial emphasis on the training of scientists, and initiated the Jasons, a mechanism for exposing bright young university academicians to technical problems of Defense in order to stimulate them in areas for research.