Word: sdi
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...Ivan-One-Note quality to Soviet propaganda against the U.S. these days. Whatever the issue at hand -- trade, ideology, Third World instability -- Soviet spokesmen routinely find some way of working in a denunciation of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Part of the Soviet complaint is that SDI, commonly called Star Wars, has the potential of drastically changing the rules whereby the superpowers deter each other from starting a nuclear...
...SDI has been immensely controversial, and justifiably so. The old logic underlying "offense-dominated deterrence" has yet to be disproved. Conversely, the technical feasibility and strategic wisdom of substituting defenses for offenses has yet to be proved. Says former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, an early proponent of restrictions on ABMs: "The human mind has yet to conceive of a way to limit offense while at the same time permitting unlimited defense...
...article published last week in the quarterly Foreign Affairs, another former Pentagon chief, James Schlesinger, criticized the Reagan Administration for prejudging what SDI scientists will find: "In an R&D effort, the normal behavior is to allow the technical uncertainties to be resolved before one reaches conclusions about force structures or strategy. In this case, the results are being announced in advance: a revolutionary change in strategic doctrine and the strategic relationships between the superpowers...
...major question hanging over SDI is how to test its parts without violating the 1972 treaty with the Soviets that bans development of antiballistic missile systems. The Pentagon plans to test on the ground some gear intended for use in space and break up trials of SDI "components" into tests of + "subcomponents." The treaty forbids space tests and allows only very limited testing of antimissile components, but it says nothing about subcomponents. Thus in Washington's interpretation subcomponent tests are permitted, though the Pentagon concedes this is a "gray area." In addition, the U.S. argues that the Soviets have repeatedly...
...widely conceded, however, that the U.S. must continue SDI research, if only to guard against a Soviet breakthrough. Even the European allies that are most dubious about the possibility or desirability of missile defense endorse that view. They add a strictly pragmatic justification: the U.S. is going ahead with or without their participation -- and if European allies are to stay abreast of the latest technology and retain their political influence over American decisions, they had better ante up and get into the game...