Other notable scientists who wrote for FEF publications and lectured under its auspices include Friedwardt Winterberg, Krafft Arnold Ehricke, and Winston H. Bostick.

"The judgment of the vast majority of the people actually working in fusion believe it will take substantially longer" than the few years predicted by the FEF, according to Baker.

[2] The FEF received publicity in 1981 when it published a book explaining how to build a hydrogen bomb written by University of Nevada, Reno, professor Friedwardt Winterberg.

The author of the original article later learned that a diagram by Uwe Papert published in 1976 in a LaRouche publication contained two important details of the weapon's design that he had been wrong about.

Friedwardt Winterberg described how rocket engines incorporating fusion micro-explosions could provide enough acceleration to convey a large mass in a reasonable amount of time, a concept derived from Project Daedalus.

[13] In 1979 the Fusion Energy Foundation created the Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

[11] According to the American Physical Society, FEF members disrupted a 1986 conference on SDI to which they were not invited, and only stopped after being threatened with police action.

[4] Psychiatrist Ned Rosinsky spoke as a representative of the FEF at a Wisconsin state legislative hearing on criminal penalties for drug possession in 1977.

He testified that "marijuana is a medically dangerous drug until proved otherwise", citing studies showing brain damage and a reduction in white blood cells caused by the habitual use of cannabis.

[19] Under the auspices of Pakdee Tanapura,[4] a wealthy Thai landowner, the FEF and EIR held a seminar in 1983 on the proposed construction of the Kra Canal across Thailand.

[21] The FEF has been described by many writers as a "front" for the U.S. Labor Party and the LaRouche movement,[23][24][25][26][27] In a National Review article published in 1979, former member Gregory Rose said that the primary purpose of the Fusion Energy Foundation was raising money.

[25] Milton Copulous, director of energy studies for The Heritage Foundation, called FEF "a front the USLP uses to win the confidence of unsuspecting businessmen".

[28] According to a representative in Toronto, Richard Sanders, FEF contributions gathered in Canada were sent to the United States to support the presidential campaigns of Lyndon LaRouche.

[10] Although the FEF denied any financial connection to LaRouche's U.S. Labor Party, the two organizations reportedly shared offices in New York City.

[30]Barbara Mikulski filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission asserting that the FEF was improperly raising funds for a LaRouche-affiliated candidate, Debra Freeman, in a 1982 congressional campaign.

[33] In October 1986, New York Attorney General Robert Abrams sued to dissolve the FEF, charging that it fraudulently solicited donations as tax-deductible after their exemption had been withdrawn, and for failure to file required forms.

"[34] Two weeks later, the IRS restored the FEF's tax exempt status, saying it had made an error though privacy rules prevented further elaboration.

[34] In a widely reported case, a 79-year-old retired steel executive gave or loaned a total of $2.6 million over a 14 months period in amounts ranging from $250 to $350,000, according to a lawsuit.

[38] During a 1986 Virginia state investigation, an undercover policeman purchased subscriptions to Fusion and another LaRouche movement publication, Executive Intelligence Review, at Washington National Airport.

"[41] An article in The Boston Globe called them "the kooks at the airport" who solicited money using posters often denouncing Jane Fonda,[42] a target of the LaRouche movement because of her support for environmental causes.

The FEF members pressed charges for destruction of property leading Fonda to miss his flight, though he was allowed to leave without posting bond.

[43] In 1982, Ellen Kaplan, an FEF member raising money in the Newark Airport, spotted former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and his wife Nancy.

[43] In 1977, the Fusion Energy Foundation received a temporary injunction to prevent the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from harassing it or interfering with its activities.

[50] In a separate action the same year, the FEF, along with other LaRouche entities, was named in a lawsuit charging violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) that was filed in San Francisco.

The suit alleged that FEF fundraisers had flown down from Washington to take the 79-year old Laguna Hills resident to her bankbox where they got from her stock certificates worth $104,452, described by her accountant as the woman's life savings.

[54] During a federal grand jury investigation into fundraising practices in 1985, the FEF and other LaRouche entities were given subpoenas requiring that they turn over documents and provide a keeper of records to testify.

[57] In October 1986, hundreds of federal and state law enforcement conducted a coordinated raid on the offices of LaRouche enterprises, including those of the FEF, and seized the documents that had been subpoenaed in 1985.

The FEF and other entities argued in court that the search warrants had been improperly executed, and that documents were taken in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.

[citation needed] Six months later, in April 1987, the federal prosecutors obtained an unusual involuntary bankruptcy procedure against the FEF and other groups in order to settle the contempt of court fines which had grown to $21.4 million.

[61] A full-page advertisement protesting the closures, published in IEEE Spectrum, was signed by people associated with the fusion and SDI fields, including 22 employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.