"[Seize the high ground is a] narrative history of the Army's aerospace experience from the 1950s to the present. The focus is on ballistic missile defense, from the early NIKE-HERCULES missile program through the SAFEGUARD acquisition site allowed by the 1972 ABM Treaty to the more advanced 'Star Wars' concepts studies toward the end of the century. [What is] covered is not only the technological response to the threat but the organizational and tactical development of the commands and units responsible for the defense mission"--CMH website.

N THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE IMPACT OF FLIGHT REACHED INTO EVERY CORNER OF American society. However, nowhere has its impact been more dramatic than in the realm of military affairs. Over the past one hundred years, the evolution of military aviation technology has altered the way Americans have looked at national security. The development of military aviation has had an enormous impact upon the battlefield which, in turn, has transformed international politics and the crafting of national security policy. The question of how best to protect the United States against external military threats has come to involve the projection of military power abroad. With the passage of time and accelerated advancement of military aviation technology, the organization and development of air forces have assumed greater urgency and significance. In 1934, James H. Jimmy Doolittle noted that the future security of our nation is dependent upon an adequate air force AND this will become increasingly important as the science of aviation advances. I.