Word: laird
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...entry for enemy materiel. The most likely choice, however, is an intensification of the ground war in South Viet Nam, perhaps marked by a large-scale American offensive. None of these courses is without risk, either military or political, and much will depend on the recommendations that Mel Laird brings back to Washington this week...
...general expectation was that the President would choose to continue the ABM program in some form, despite the bitter criticism that that course would draw. To do otherwise would amount to a vote of no confidence in the military and undercut Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, who has come out in favor of the ABM. In the highly unlikely event that Nixon chose to abandon this system, he would come under heavy fire from those Americans who voted for him at least in part because he promised to guarantee clear U.S. military superiority over the Soviet Union. To steer a cautious...
...initial hardware. The skeptical McNamara, backed by the White House, refused to spend the extra funds. The very next year, in the face of domestic political pressure and continued weaponry development by the Chinese and Russians, the Johnson Administration reluctantly reversed itself. Now the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Melvin Laird seems eager to press ahead at full speed with an ABM system called the Sentinel-despite hesitance elsewhere in the Administration and increasingly stubborn opposition to ABM in Congress...
...offensive missile force, the thin Sentinel began to appear not as an end in itself, but only as the first step toward a "thick" defense against Soviet attack. Its ultimate cost was estimated to be $50 billion-and many in Washington feel that it would far exceed that. Now Laird is arguing that, if nothing else, the Sentinel would serve as a bargaining point with the Russians should negotiations take place. Russia, after all, has actually begun to install its "Galosh" ABM network around Moscow. Last year the Soviets slowed construction of their defense network, perhaps because of technical problems...
...kind of Brinksmanship and that Congress has okayed a program whose ends are radically different from those it approved. At a recent press conference President Nixon dismissed the idea that Sentinel was intended "simply for the purpose of protecting ourselves against attack from Communist China." Secretary Laird, speaking of the impending missile discussion with Russia, said last week, "I think it's most important, as we go into these talks, to have defensive as well as offensive missile systems up for discussion, debate, and negotiation...