Word: pentagon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Judging by your round table of cold warriors, the military threat the American people should most fear is in the Pentagon, not the Kremlin. What we most need to face is the inflation fueled by $150 billion of stupid racing to more madness...
...fascinated by such a device. At the time, there was a growing revulsion against contamination by radioactive debris from extremely "dirty" nuclear tests in the atmosphere. Also, a low-yield bomb fitted in neatly with the limited-war concepts that were then being explored by the Eisenhower Administration. Some Pentagon strategists wanted to include in their nuclear arsenal a relatively small weapon that could be used tactically by troops in the field against a potential aggressor without causing incalculable havoc among civilian populations...
...nuclear weapons, of course, kill by heat, concussive force and radiation. But when their yield is reduced, as in the neutron bomb, the balance changes. In the words of Herbert Scoville Jr., a former weapons specialist for the Pentagon and CIA: "The instantaneous nuclear radiation, first gamma rays, then neutrons, become predominant, and the blast thermal effects become less and less important." As a result, if a typical bomb of this sort is exploded 500 ft. above the target, the blast and heat effects extend only about 400 yds. from ground zero, but the high-energy neutrons, hurtling...
...elevation of the hard-driving Jones, whose dark circles under the eyes accurately convey the career-long intensity of his striving for the top, was interpreted at the Pentagon as a reward for the relative combat readiness of the Air Force, as well as for Jones' own willingness to go along with White House-approved defense policies. Jones, as Air Force Chief of Staff, fought hard for production of the B-l bomber but refused to wage any further fight to save it once the President had made his decision against the aircraft. Similarly, Jones argued both publicly...
While it was not the Navy's turn to head the joint chiefs, some Pentagon observers saw a message for that service in the retention of the post by the Air Force. "The Administration wants no boat-rockers in the new J.C.S.," said one civilian defense official. "The Administration is telling the Navy that if it wants to play rough, the Administration can play rougher...