In the fall of 1987, Williams broke all protocol by writing directly to the White House chief of staff, Howard Baker, to protest budget cuts to the National Aerospace Plane. As usually happens when a mid-level government official breaks protocol, the letter ricocheted back to the Pentagon’s senior leadership, working its way down the chain until it landed on the DARPA director’s desk. Furious, Robert Duncan, the director, immediately removed Williams as the head of the program. Watching from outside government, Bob Cooper, who had approved the space plane, was horrified. “When I saw that
...more
