Word: abm
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford inaugurated the new stance by directing that the $5.5 billion Sentinel anti-ballistic-missile program be exempt from any of the budget cuts dictated by Congress this year. Though the ABM system is primarily designed to protect the U.S. against Chinese ICBMs, which are now said to be at least a year behind schedule, Clifford insisted that "current developments" force the U.S. to "press forward as planned with the Sentinel system." Opponents fear that this may even mean the eventual revival of the once-proposed (and rejected) larger ABM shield directed against Soviet missiles...
...arms race that ought rather to be slowing down. On the other hand, some disarmament specialists agree with Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, who maintains that developments like MIRV are necessary for the U.S. to "negotiate from strength, not weakness." The Soviets themselves are currently pushing ahead with an ABM system, their own as yet undeveloped MIRVs, an orbiting missile system, and a version of Polaris. Moscow and Washington have agreed to discuss limitations on all such weapons systems. Meanwhile, Russia's missile installations are being developed so rapidly that they may well pass the current U.S. lead...
...after Moscow with what an aide called "enormous, stubborn persistence." During his summit meeting with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin at Glassboro, N.J., in June 1967, he urged talks on limiting the ruinously expensive development of anti-ballistic missile defenses. The Russians, then in the process of emplacing their "Galosh"* ABM system around Moscow and Leningrad, said they would think about it. After his March 31 decision not to seek a second term, Johnson wrote to Kosygin emphasizing that "now is the time" for both countries to act. Two weeks ago, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko declared that Moscow was ready...
...Administration consequently believe that the talks will lead to the complete elimination of missile systems. A freeze on existing offensive missiles is about the best that is hoped for; orbiting satellites could easily detect any effort to install new missile launchers, making inspection a relatively routine task. As for ABM systems, the Russians are not about to permit on-site inspection-or dismantling-of Galosh. Neither is a U.S. President likely to risk a political uproar by canceling plans for the "thin" $5.5 billion Sentinel system. A pact that would place severe limits on both systems, and keep down their...
Defending the Administration's decision, Clifford underscored Sentinel's real value-as a deterrent to further Soviet moves in the ABM field. "If they [the Soviets] develop and deploy a workable ABM system and we do not," he declared, "we are at a disadvantage." His logic made an impact. By a 52-to-34 vote, the Senate defeated a move to eliminate funds for Sentinel from the defense budget...