HISTORY OF PLRC

The history of Pacific Life Research Center coincides with my adventures since leaving the weapons contracting business. When I resigned as a designer of Trident missiles, I intended to become a freelance writer. But I soon discovered that my writing is not interesting to people -- especially editors -- unless I have a message to convey. So I altered my course and specialized in writing about the Trident system I had worked on -- how it was an aggressive weapon and, because of its intended accuracy combined with other features, it was being designed for striking first.

Corkboard in the PLRC office, where it has resided forever

It wasn't long before critics challenged my ideas about preemptive use of nuclear weapons because Trident couldn't destroy the enemy's missile-launching submarines at sea, which would still be able to retaliate with massive and unacceptable destruction. Facing such consequences, no one would think of striking first.

That set me on a new trail. I decided to investigate the entire nuclear weapons picture to see if work was taking place in other areas that would compliment the aggressive nature of Trident and, thus, actually give America a first-strike capability. This led to deeper research requiring me to delve into a wide assortment of documents. Some technical journals were only published for professionals involved in prescribed areas of business. Consequently I conjured up the name of Pacific Life Research Center and gave myself the title of chief researcher. That is true because I was the only researcher. I used the acronym PLRC for a shortened name.

Bob and Mark Marching at Lockheed with the Trident Monster, 1976

Choice of the PLRC name was not arbitrary. At that same time I was involved with a resistance group called Pacific Life Community which was focused on the Trident system I had previously helped to build. We protested against Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) in Sunnyvale, California, striving to expose the death and destruction that was being planned and built at that plant. The name Pacific Life has a dual meaning. First, it is a geographic designation because we were located on the Pacific coast. Also, in Spanish, pacific means peaceful, and we were a community striving for a peaceful life. I chose to adapt the name Pacific Life to the research center I was establishing.

Originally I had only intended the name of PLRC to give me access to various information that a hack freelance writer would have difficulty obtaining. Gradually the name became wider known and such things as biographic notes at the end of articles referred to me as the founder of Pacific Life Research Center. Wherever possible I always explained that PLRC was not a prestigious think tank. It was only my small one-man operation.

Pre-internet days -- The Trident Resister's Handbook

In the early 1990s a British-American network for Trident resistance was formed, and still operates. In 1992 I decided to publish my research in a Trident Resister's Handbook. It was a loose-leaf binder which could have pages removed, added, and replaced as I supplied updates. It was sold for cost as a publication of Pacific Life Research Center. The TRH, as it was often called, worked well for a while. But it became a burdensome and time-consuming chore to publish updates and mail them to the various holders of the handbook. For a staff of one, the office work cut deeply into research time. A more efficient scheme was needed.

That was when I converted the various TRH chapters to PLRC research papers. I continued to keep the papers current and mailed them to a list of people who wanted to be on the distribution. Later, PLRC became more high tech and I distributed papers by e-mail. This greatly reduced the office tasks -- making copies, stuffing envelopes, adding stamps and addresses, running to the post office. Again, more time was allowed for productive research.

Where all the hard work takes place, wait a minute, where's Bob? -- coffee break no doubt.

When I thought PLRC operations were about as streamlined as they could get, I was in for another surprise. My son, Mark, asked why I don't have a web site. I had been asked that many times before and a couple organizations did post my PLRC papers on their site. But Mark persisted and offered to help. I finally consented on the condition that he be the web designer.

That is the story behind the web site you are looking at today. PLRC is a growing entity amid the downsizing of almost every other operation in the Santa Clara Valley. We now have a staff of two! We hope our contribution is helpful.

Bob Aldridge