Interestingly, that interpretation was originally a Soviet conspiracy theory that later became the post-Cold War narrative. Unfortunately, it's not true -- in f

Interestingly, that interpretation was originally a Soviet conspiracy theory that later became the post-Cold War narrative. Unfortunately, it's not true -- in fact, SDI was an idea that Reagan championed relentlessly, believed in completely, and thought could completely transform the arms race and lead to a total elimination of nuclear arms from the world. As for the Soviets, their scientific commissions on the project (e.g., the Velikhov Commission) downplayed the feasibility of SDI, and while the USSR did invest in some speculative technology projects and some rather more expensive silo-hardening programs, SDI had little direct effect on their spending. The primary effect of SDI, other than some useful technological advancements, was to make arms-reduction talks more complex as the U.S. was unwilling to walk away from SDI research and the Soviets saw it as a needless provocation.