Imaginary weapons : a journey through the Pentagon's scientific underworld
(Book)

Includes index.

In this book, the author--no stranger to harebrained military schemes from her years covering the Pentagon--takes us on a wild ride through the hidden underworld of official fringe science in America. From antimatter weapons to psychic warriors, Weinberger shows that the U.S. government is increasingly susceptible to outlandish claims. But the isomer weapon--a futuristic device that would rival the power of the nuclear bomb--may be the strangest case of them all. A detective story featuring exclusive access to original source documents, Weinberger exposes the "true believers" in the military and intelligence community who thought that the isomer bomb would be the super-weapon that would help win the War on Terror. This group of ideologues pushed the government to develop an imaginary weapon that they believed would evade current arms treaties. This book provides a sometimes darkly humorous take on a more serious subject: the decline of scientific expertise among U.S. national security agencies and the government's increasing susceptibility to hyped claims about weapons of mass destruction.