Word: reagan
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...stood pat on Reagan's zero option, which proposes that NATO forgo its planned deployment if the Soviets dismantle the 613 intermediate-range missiles they now have in place. NATO defense ministers meeting in Portugal were successfully persuaded by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger last week to reaffirm support for deployment of NATO'S missiles if there is no agreement at the INF negotiations in Geneva. But despite this declaration, West European leaders remain hopeful that the U.S. will adopt a more flexible approach. In this week's speech, Reagan is expected to indicate that the U.S. will consider accepting...
...Reagan's final speech in his current defense crusade is expected to offer a recommendation concerning the much disputed MX missile. A presidential panel has been studying ways to deploy the new ICBMS, which remain homeless after three years of basing proposals ranging from race tracks to dense packs. The panel is expected to suggest that a limited number of the mammoth missiles be built and placed in existing silos used by Minuteman ICBMs. The panel is also considering calling for a new, smaller missile, dubbed Midgetman, that could be made mobile and thus less vulnerable to an enemy strike...
With so many crucial defense decisions looming in the coming months, it was distressing that Reagan chose this particular moment to introduce his star wars vision of missile defense forces. The issue of altering fundamental nuclear strategies is far too important to be tossed about either for temporary political impact, or in the name of getting the levels of defense spending that he feels ? rightly or wrongly ? the nation so urgently needs. Shifting to a system of satellite defenses would require years of careful planning and sincere negotiations with the Soviets, for the idea can never work...
...Reagan actually proposed such a plan before. It was outlined in a White House position paper on defense in October 1981: "We will expand ballistic missile defense research and development for active defense of land-based missiles. We will develop technologies for space-based missile defense...
...Reagan's video-game vision of satellites and other weapons that might some day zap enemy missiles with lasers or particle beams and the drama surrounding his unexpected announcement were partly a political ploy to change the context of the debate over defense spending. But if his space-age plan proceeds, or even if the suggestion of a shift in strategy is taken seriously, the implications are staggering. Indeed, as Reagan said, "we are launching an effort which holds the promise of changing the course of human history." Not since 1972, when the antiballistic missile (ABM) treaty was signed...