 Abrahamson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be the first director of the Strategic Defense Initiative ("SDI") in April 1984.The "Star Wars" program, as SDI's detractors dubbed it, was initiated to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system that would prevent missile attacks from other countries, particularly the Soviet Union.Some countries opposed to U.S. missile defense efforts raised concerns about the program "contravening" the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in years before the program was enacted.