Word: pentagon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Henry Kissinger once complained that the Pentagon was crediting its long-range cruise missile with being a cure for everything but the common cold. It may not be the ultimate doomsday weapon, but this armed drone, which looks a bit like a stunted jet plane, promises to become one of the most versatile weapons in the U.S. arsenal-and the Russians have good reason to be impressed...
Although the Soviets trail in cruise technology, Pentagon experts estimate that the Russians could catch up in about five years. Moreover, the cruise could not be used to launch a surprise attack; its leisurely subsonic speed (for extreme long range: 400 m.p.h.) gives plenty of warning that it is on its way. But the cruise is a powerful deterrent to a first-strike Soviet attack. Both cheap and mobile, cruises can be deployed in such massive numbers across the U.S., in planes and at sea that it would be impossible for the Soviets to destroy them all. The surviving cruises...
...Schlesinger is quite convinced that his job of creating a national energy policy is indeed doable, if for no other reason than that he has dedicated his considerable intellect to it. After all, he has already been the nation's chief nuclear administrator, spymaster and boss of the Pentagon-though he has never been a physicist, a spook or even a soldier...
...Richard Nixon's first Administration, Schlesinger was named assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget, where he promptly began to bounce what he considered unjustified expenditures by the Pentagon. In 1971 Schlesinger moved on to become chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, which had fallen under the influence of the utility industry. In his first meeting with utilities executives, he told shocked industry leaders: "Gentlemen, I am not here to protect your triple-A bond ratings...
...office in such a foul mood that his staff was afraid to speak to him. "He could melt the stars off the shoulders of a four-star general," recalls one former aide. There was an angle in his anger. Schlesinger wanted to dominate the entrenched bureaucracy of the Pentagon, which has defied the mastery of all but two or three of the eleven other Secretaries. He managed to start rebuilding the post-Viet Nam Army, trimming fat to get more men on the firing line...