Soviet Look at SDI Draws Interest, Ire

The 2,770-acre Capistrano Test Site in South Orange County doesn’t look like much from the front gate, and it doesn’t attract much attention from its neighbors.

Nestled in the dry hills above San Clemente, the TRW Inc. facility houses a $250-million laser research project, part of the nation’s so-called “Star Wars” defense, but it is closed to the public, and no signs on the exterior of the site give any hint about the work going on inside. Residents of the laid-back beach community just a few miles away appear to know little if anything about it, and local law enforcement officials say they rarely concern themselves with it.

“That place is pretty quiet as far as we’re concerned,” said Lt. Richard J. Olson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

But the same facility that draws little public notice in Orange County has stirred interest and concern in the upper reaches of the Kremlin, where American high-energy laser research never fails to ruffle feathers.

After months of discussion, 10 Soviet scientists--led by Ambassador Yuri Nazarkin, head of the Soviet delegation to the strategic arms and space defense talks in Geneva--will visit the Orange County lab Saturday, escorted by company executives and U.S. government officials. There the Soviets will get a look at the “Alpha laser,” and it will mark the first time Soviet officials have ever laid eyes on a Strategic Defense Initiative project.

American officials say that Soviet scientists picked the sprawling Orange County facility as one of only two to visit in this country--the other, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is well-known to laymen and physicists alike.

When they arrive, the Soviets will suit up in sterile “bunny suits” and climb inside a 50-foot-tall vacuum chamber to behold a hydrogen fluoride, high-power chemical laser, the kind of equipment that science fiction writers like to weave into their tales. But while the laser may be the stuff of fiction and fantasy, physicists say it’s not much to look at.

“It’s a big mess,” said John Pike, associate director for space policy of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists. “It looks like what you see in your car when you open up the hood.”

Herbert York, a physicist at UC San Diego, who served as chief negotiator in the U.S.-Soviet test ban talks from 1978 to 1980, agreed that the Soviets may not be rendered breathless by their glimpse of the laser.

“It’s a modest-sized building, and an elegant, high-tech laser, but it’s nothing that’s that impressive,” he said, adding that he has visited the facility on several occasions to examine the Alpha laser. “I’m really surprised that they would choose the San Juan facility to visit.”

York, who heard of the Soviet visit several weeks ago, said that he first thought U.S. officials must have picked the TRW facility because they did not want the scientists to see more advanced research being conducted at other laboratories, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near Berkeley. That center is testing space-based “kinetic kill” systems, also known as “brilliant pebbles.”

TRW officials will not discuss the visit in detail, and most of the 2 1/2-half day trip is out of public view. The Soviet team will arrive at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro this afternoon and, after a brief session for reporters and photographers, will drop out of sight for two days.

San Clemente officials complained that they did not learn of the visit until reading of it in the newspaper, and other local officials said they, too, have been kept in the dark. A Marine Corps spokesman said he has been given an itinerary but would not release it except to confirm the arrival time and the Saturday visit to the facility. The Soviets will be “in the area” Sunday, officials acknowledged, but they declined to elaborate.

In Washington, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization at the Pentagon referred questions to TRW and the State Department, which referred them back to the SDIO. Montye C. Male, a spokeswoman for TRW, called the tour a “government-to-government event. We’ll provide whatever we’re asked to provide, but we really are, by design, keeping a low profile on this.”

Local reaction to the visit was less muddled.

In San Clemente, which was founded by a staunch anti-communist who sought refuge from the the Bolshevik movement of the 1920s, the spirit of glasnost echoed in the remarks of residents and merchants along the waterfront and in the quaint shopping centers of the 71-year-old beach community.

“I don’t think it is a bad idea to have more communication between the two countries, said Sandy Bushfield, owner of a pier-side sandwich shop. “I’m for (the visit) if it makes the world a better place to live in. If we can all work together and learn to live with one another, we can save mankind.”

Alexander Barron, a 21-year-old construction worker, said he has been heartened by events in Eastern Europe and the spirit of openness. “In fact, I am pretty happy with the way things are going with the Russians,” he said.

But Barron, along with several scientists and local officials, said he was puzzled and annoyed by the secrecy surrounding the trip. The laser is not classified, and once the TRW lab opens its doors to Soviet officials, many asked, from whom are the secrets being kept?

Councilman Thomas Lorch, who opposed the visit, complained about what he considers the federal government’s double standard: “The local people are not allowed to visit and be allowed to be briefed on the operation of the facility, but the Russians can come out and get the red carpet treatment, so to speak,” Lorch said. “This takes me aback.”

TRW officials maintained their silence: “We at TRW have a standing policy of no media involvement,” Male said. “We have maintained a closed facility.”

That policy will stand.

“I find it outrageous but not at all surprising,” Pike said. “You’d be surprised at how much information is shared between the U.S. and Soviet governments that is not shared with the American people. . . . It’s weird.”

ALL ABOUT ALPHA

Alpha, a high-energy chemical laser under development by TRW Space and Technology Group for the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, is a $250-million project being undertaken as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Here are some facts about program:

The laser was designed from 1980-83 at a cost of $50 million. Construction began in 1984.

A four-phase test program now under way will measure power, beam quality and other aspects of the laser.

The laser is made primarily of extruded aluminum. It derives its beam from a chemical reaction. The fuels used to ignite Alpha are nitrogen fluoride, deuterium, hydrogen and helium.

Alpha is now being assembled and tested under the guidance of Weapons Laboratory officials at the TRW Corp.’s test site near San Clemente.

The first test in a four-phase series was in August, 1987.

The first partial firing was Dec. 23, 1987. Further tests are scheduled for the next few months.

Source: TRW