It deals with important questions about the limits of computing, the nature of reliability, the organization of large, complex systems, and the nature of strategic defense itself. Thus, in the report's view, it is effectively impossible to build workable Star Wars systems. Recommended, but not comforting, reading. Sensors and signal processing comprise a larger portion of the SDI effort than anything else, according to many reports. He administers about half a billion dollars worth of contracts.
Sensors comprise almost half the total.
Gamble also explained why he thought missile defense was once again plausible, after being debunked in the early 70's. The other two factors were long-life space systems and powerful onboard computing capabilities. However, this area is not so well known to computer science types. Two of the systems people involved in this project gave a seminar at the UW computer science department last January. They mentioned that the signal processing was being handled by the sensor people and they just regarded it as a black box.