The LaRouche campaign supported Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
Dennis King wrote that LaRouche had been speculating about space-based weaponry as early as 1975.
He set up the Fusion Energy Foundation, which held conferences and tried to cultivate scientists, with some success.
In 1979, FEF representatives attended a Moscow conference on laser fusion.
LaRouche began to promote the use of lasers and related technologies for both military and civilian purposes, calling for a "revolution in machine tools."

According to King, LaRouche's associates had for some years been in contact with members of the Reagan administration about LaRouche's space-based weapons ideas.
LaRouche proposed the development of defensive beam technologies as a policy that was in the interest of both the United States and the Soviet Union, as the alternative to an arms race in offensive weapons, and as a generator of spin-off economic benefits.
Between February 1982 and February 1983, with the approval of the National Security Council, LaRouche met with Soviet embassy representative Evgeny Shershnev to discuss the proposal.
During this period, Soviet economists also began to study LaRouche's economic forecasting model.
However, following Reagan's public announcement of the SDI in March 1983, Soviet representatives broke off all contact with LaRouche and his representatives.

Physicist Edward Teller, a proponent of SDI and X-ray lasers, told reporters in 1984 that he had been courted by LaRouche, but had kept his distance.
LaRouche began calling his plan the "LaRouche-Teller proposal," though they had never met.
Teller said LaRouche was "a poorly informed man with fantastic conceptions."

LaRouche later attributed the collapse of the Soviet Union to its refusal to follow his advice to accept Reagan's offer to share the technology.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reported in his 2011 memoir that at a 2001 dinner in Russia with leading officials, he was told by General Yuri Baluyevsky, then the second highest-ranking officer in the Russian military, that LaRouche was the brains behind SDI.
Rumsfeld stated that he believed LaRouche had had no influence whatsoever on the program, and surmised that Baluyevsky must have obtained the information off the Internet.
In 2012 the former head of the Russian bureau of Interpol, General Vladimir Ovchinsky, also described LaRouche as the man who proposed the SDI.
The LaRouche campaign supported Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Dennis King wrote that LaRouche had been speculating about space-based weaponry as early as 1975. He set up the Fusion Energy Foundation, which held conferences and tried to cultivate scientists, with some success. In 1979, FEF representatives attended a Moscow conference on laser fusion. LaRouche began to promote the use of lasers and related technologies for both military and civilian purposes, calling for a "revolution in machine tools."
According to King, LaRouche's associates had for some years been in contact with members of the Reagan administration about LaRouche's space-based weapons ideas. LaRouche proposed the development of defensive beam technologies as a policy that was in the interest of both the United States and the Soviet Union, as the alternative to an arms race in offensive weapons, and as a generator of spin-off economic benefits. Between February 1982 and February 1983, with the approval of the National Security Council, LaRouche met with Soviet embassy representative Evgeny Shershnev to discuss the proposal. During this period, Soviet economists also began to study LaRouche's economic forecasting model. However, following Reagan's public announcement of the SDI in March 1983, Soviet representatives broke off all contact with LaRouche and his representatives.
Physicist Edward Teller, a proponent of SDI and X-ray lasers, told reporters in 1984 that he had been courted by LaRouche, but had kept his distance. LaRouche began calling his plan the "LaRouche-Teller proposal," though they had never met. Teller said LaRouche was "a poorly informed man with fantastic conceptions."
LaRouche later attributed the collapse of the Soviet Union to its refusal to follow his advice to accept Reagan's offer to share the technology. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reported in his 2011 memoir that at a 2001 dinner in Russia with leading officials, he was told by General Yuri Baluyevsky, then the second highest-ranking officer in the Russian military, that LaRouche was the brains behind SDI. Rumsfeld stated that he believed LaRouche had had no influence whatsoever on the program, and surmised that Baluyevsky must have obtained the information off the Internet. In 2012 the former head of the Russian bureau of Interpol, General Vladimir Ovchinsky, also described LaRouche as the man who proposed the SDI.
Lyndon LaRouche