Defining ‘Star Wars’

The Pentagon, which continues to ooze confidence about President Reagan’s “Star Wars” system to defend the nation against nuclear missiles, is about to ask for outside advice on the project again.

The first time that the Pentagon did that, it asked whether it should try to launch something into space as soon as possible. A committee of specialists, most of whom were involved in defense projects, said no. The committee said that the office in charge of the Strategic Defense Initiative had not so much a system in mind as a list of components. How it all would work was sketchy, the specialists said. That was just last year.

This time Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci wants a panel to look not just at early deployment but at the entire project. In an interview last week with the Baltimore Sun, he said that he wants some assurance that the program is “properly structured” and that its goals are reasonable.

The request may take the outside experts longer than they expect. Despite the billions of dollars that have been spent on the project over the past five years, its real goal is a mystery. The President saw it originally as a shield to protect the entire nation. Since then most specialists on space-based defense have said that that is impossible. Exactly what is possible the Pentagon has yet to say.