Siegel's independent pursuit of nuclear fusion was not welcomed by either the federal government or the rest of the defense industry in which he had spent the better part of his career. Unfortunately, the company encountered heavy opposition from both the Atomic Energy Commission and from large federal weapons laboratories. Many people in both government and scientific sectors were bitterly opposed to the operation of such a fundamental and important energy program in the private sector. The long and, eventually, successful campaign of the AEC against KMS Fusion became a matter of public record. (Fortune, Dec. 1974).