BRIEFING OF DOD OFFICIALS ON SOVIET MILITARY EXPENDITURES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B00972A000100440001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 8, 1969
• Content Type: MFR

Approved For Release 2007/02/23: CIA-RDP79B00972A000100440001-2
wry
8 January 1969
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Briefing of DoD Officials on Soviet
Military Expenditures
1. On 7 January 1969, I presented a briefing
on Soviet military expenditures to the following
DoD officials:
John S. Foster, Jr., Director, Defense
Research and Engineering
Robert C. Moot, Asst. Secy. Def. (Comptroller)
Charles L. Poor, Dep. Asst. Secy. of Army
(R&D)
and several members of their staffs.
The briefing was arranged at the request of Clifford
Cummings, Spec. Asst. (Threat Assessment), DDR&E,
who had been present for a similar briefing of the
DCI's Strategic Intelligence Panel last October.
Today's briefing was relatively informal and lasted
about an hour and a quarter.
2. I reviewed in general some economic data
on the USSR, described CIA's methods of costing
Soviet military programs, the historical trends
and projections of expenditures by various missions
and elements, and discussed the current outlook.
..e aim of the briefing was to provide background
and perspective on Soviet military programs as
reflected in economic data. The material covered 25X1
was consistent with current NIE's, the IPP and
OSR publications. I was accompanied by
Chief, Military-Economic Planning Branc .
3. There were questi6ns and discussion through-
out, and the briefing seemed well received. Many
Approved For Release 2007/02/23: CIA-RDP79B00972A000100440001-2
 Approved For Release 2007/02/23: CIA-RDP79B00972A000100440001-2
of the questions involved the relation of Soviet
to US counterpart programs, and as is usually the
case, they were particularly struck by the continu-
ing size of the Soviet defensive effort :i of the
earlier programs for peripheral offense sL:c21 as
medium bombers, and MRBM-IRBMs. They showed a
good de:---'. of interest in the methods by which we
construct our costing estimates and I reviewed the
way in which this information is used in projections
such as the-ABM. We discussed the problems of
measuring the Soviet effort on RDTE & Space, and
the related data limitations. They understood
these from e%-,r ience.
Approved For Release 2007/02/23: CIA-RDP79B00972A000100440001-2