Word: abm
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...most alarming arguments raised by ABM opponents is the prospect that Spartans and Sprints could accidentally explode while still in the ground, devastating a huge surrounding area. This point is not raised only by nervous housewives or fanatic nucleo-phobes. Dr. David Inglis, senior physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory, concluded in a Saturday Review article that the danger deserves serious consideration. Bethe, on the other hand, says that he is untroubled by the safety aspects of Sentinel. In fact, there has been no unintentional nuclear explosion in the U.S. since the birth of the atomic age. Even when nuclear...
...away in talks with the Russians? These are points that have never been satisfactorily answered, even by those who first promoted the Sentinel's anti-Chinese system. McNamara led with his chin when he acknowledged in 1967 that only "marginal grounds" supported the decision to authorize an ABM. That speech has been an arsenal of criticism for ABM opponents ever since...
Many responsible scientists and strategists make a cogent case for Sentinel's deployment. Leon Johnson, a retired Air Force general and National Security Council aide, argues that an ABM gives the U.S. an extra option in any crisis. Its existence in a future confrontation, say with a bellicose nation that has a few primitive missiles, would allow the U.S. a third alternative other than acquiescing to blackmail or being forced to devastate the antagonist. The U.S. could employ conventional forces in a local situation, knowing that a small nuclear attack could be blunted...
...stay ahead of the defense. Defensive technology has reached the point, Brennan maintains, where it requires equal effort for the offense to keep pace. To this, Simon Ramo, vice chairman of the billion-dollar-a-year TRW electronics company, replies that with "one-tenth of the budget of ABM, thick or thin, I could wreck the system...
Brennan and a number of other ABM advocates part company with the "thin" school. They urge a fuller deployment aimed squarely against a Russian attack. If both the U.S. and the Soviet Union could agree to emphasize their defensive posture, says Brennan, "we might find it very easy to agree on an effective ceiling on offensive forces...