the ground-based systems. Nunn reiterated his attack on Pebbles in August, at which point Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney stepped in and threatened that if the attacks continued that the president might veto the entire bill. His position was undermined by the failure of the third Pebbles test on 22 October 1992, when the booster broke up shortly after liftoff. The final language for the 1992 version of the bill contained Nunn's language on the focus towards the Limited Defense System. It firmed up language that stated that the deployed system would have to be fully compliant with the ABM Treaty, and reduced funding for the space-based portions from $465 million in the 1991 version to $300 million. Further, the wording that the system should be deployed as rapidly as possible was dropped. In November 1992, SDIO was forced to remove Pebbles from the deployment contracts, sending it back to a research program. On 18 December 1992, program management was transferred to the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, and the January 1993 contracts were for "advanced technology demonstration" as opposed to a pre-production system. Cancellation President Bill Clinton's new Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, immediately began downgrading the Pebbles system. On 2 February 1993, he issued budget guidance lowering its budget from $100 million to $75 million, and moving it to the "follow on technology" category. In March 1993, it was renamed the Advanced Interceptor Technology Program. On 1 May 1993, the SDIO became the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), reflecting the administration's shift towards the theatre ballistic missile problem. On 1 December 1993, James D. Carlson, its acting deputy director, ordered a stop work on the program. This was part of significant budget rollbacks to the entire program, limiting the organization to work on a single kill-vehicle. Brilliant Pebbles was dead. In August 1994, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization was reoriented to a single Boost Phase Interceptor program. Description The final pebble design was similar to an air-to-air missile with no attempt at streamlining. The main body was about long, most of that consisting of propellant tanks for the final-stage directional controls. At the very front was the LIDAR receiver, with the laser illuminator just behind it to one side along with the UV/visible light camera. At the rear were the batteries. Forward speed was provided by a series of four boosters known as "drop stages". Each