A 'POKER GAME' OF NUCLEAR GIANTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090022-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2006
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: May 29, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

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AV '0) Approved For Release 2006/01/30
A "Poker Game"
Of Nuclear Giants
By Marquis Childs
IN THE great nuclear poker game
the two principal players are being
prodded by eager beavers. Table stakes
in the present round are bigger than
ever and whether the game goes to a
showdown is the most important single
decision in this year of decisions.
The President hopes that by negotia-
tion with Moscow both nuclear giants
will agree to forswear installing anti-
ballistic missile, systems. The cost for
each side will be not less than $30 bil-
lion and probably a great deal more.
Secretary of Defense Robert S. Mc-
Namara is convinced that with each side
raising the offensive ante as defense
systems are installed the effort will be
entirely wasted.
The latest prodding comes from Dr.
Harold M. Agnew, weapons division
leader, at the Los Alamos scientific
laboratory in New Mexico. This is where
the nuclear age came to birth and a
powerful team of scientists has worked
ever since on more and more advanced
weapons systems. Speaking at the re-
cent Air Force Association convention
in San Francisco and in a subsequent
interview, Agnew urged an immediate
go ahead with an ABM system.
av 9
IN HIS curious speech Agnew spoke
out against a balance of terror and
argued for going !ahead with any and
all developments that would increase
America's superiority. "If we are to
maintain the superiority which has -
guaranteed our dominant power posi-
tion during the last 20 years," he said,
"the United States must continue to
innovate, offensively as well as de-
fensively, and accept the consequence
of this policy in terms of any slight
provocations which might arise."
Agnew said he was speaking as a
citizen rather than as leader of the
weapons division. But, whether intended
or not, his was the voice of a powerful
scientific complex with a direct stake
in the unceasing development of every
potential weapon born in the labora-
tory. The familiar argument is that these
scientific teams will be broken up if
they are not allowed to work. After all,
he said in a telephone conversation with
this reporter, you can't mothball. people.
CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090022-2
In his speech he quoted Soviet
,authorities who believe just as Agnew
does that. every new weapons develop-
ment must be pushed to its "logical con-
clusion. This is evidence, if evidence
were needed, that the same kind of
military-scientific complex is without
doubt making the same kind of argu-
ment in the Soviet Union against any
standstill whether in offensive or de-
fensive weapons. This is one of the
formidable obstacles in the way of an
agreement to hold off on a defensive
missile system.
But it is far from being the only
obstacle. Interestingly enough, Agnew
chose to speak to the Air Force Asso-
ciation. In his warning in his farewell
address against the unwarranted in-
fluence of the military-industrial com-
plex, former President Eisenhower could.
well have had the Association in mind.
The governing body, the Council, is a
tight, interlocking directorate of the
highest officers in the Air Force and
the aircraft industry. The industry large-
ly underwrites the Association.
THE POWER of the big defense con-
tractors to influence the ABM decision
is great. A recent advertisement by all
investment analysis firm was headed
"Nike X: $30 billion for whom?" It
listed 28 companies with large defense,
contracts that "could profit handsomely"
if a full-scale ABM system is installed.
Fred Collins in the New Republic broke
this down to show that companies on
the list have 300 plants in 42 states and
:172 congressional districts, with a mini-
mum of 1 million employes. That adds
up to a lot of political influence and
particularly if a recession slows em-
ployment.
Agnew advocates a "first step" to
protect America's Minute Men missile
sites with some protection for 10 cities.
.As with all such massive programs,-how-
ever, the first step is invariably followed
by other giant steps. The bill for this
first step is put at between $3 to $4 bil-
lion with the likelihood this would be
doubled by operational costs.
After all, Agnew says, we've proved
we can spend large amounts on the war
in Southeast Asia, so why is such a sum-
any hindrance? But, as McNamara has
made clear to congressional committees,
that is merely a down payment on a
price tag that will eventually be at least
$40 billion.
Sober, knowledgeable men, Secretary
McNamara among them, have looked
into that pit. They see if the newest'
round in the nuclear race is not fore-
stalled a garrison state and a spiraling
Fred Collins in the New Republic broke
threat of nuclear war.
United Feature Syndicate
Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090022-2