SALT FACES SENATE TEST; ARMS TO DOMINATE DEBATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400380089-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 8, 2004
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: May 10, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

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ALT,f~c~s. sj"""CIXe test;
arms to dominate debate
The. military
equation
By CHARLES W. CORDDRY
Washington Bureau of The Sure
Washington" Agreement on a strategic,
arms limitation (SALT) treaty guarantees
a' national-debate that. willreach far be-
yond the, terms=of, the pact itself and en-
conpass all'aspects of United States and
Soviet military power..
The treaty puts ceilings on numbers of
strategic,}huclear missile launchers and
bombers, the most dangerous instruments
of war but the least likely to be used.:.
Debate in the, Senate, and elsewhere
will center'not only-on whether the strate-
gic nuclear terms are equitable and likely
to foster better Soviet-American relations.
It will bear down on the question of wheth-
er United States and-allied conventional
(aeon-nuclear) power, is moving; forward
sufficiently to deter Soviet aggression at
all levels.
In brief, the question must be answered.
whether the Soviet Union, having reached:;
agreement on what is called nuclear pari-
ty, will be able to pursue its political end
military goals by other means-by use or
threat of use of its expanding conventional
and closely related tactical nuclear arms.,,
There is no way that President Carter
can isolate the SALT treaty from the
broader military considerations Senator
Sam Nunn (D:,.Ga.) told a, reporter yester-.
day, Mr. Nunn, one of the Senate's leading.-
students of national security issues; has
not committed himself on the. SALT pact=
and his . comments thus : are closely`
watched on all sides.
Along with linkage of strategic nuclear,
questions- with other aspects of the mili-
tary power equation, the security debate
will center on the issues of equality and of
verification, the latter referring to Ameri-
can ability to detect Soviet cheating. .
Cyrus R. Vance, Secretary of State, and
Harold Brown, Secretary of Defense, con-
tended yesterday that the treaty, with its
equal numerical ceilings, helps the U.S. to
maintain "essential equivalance" with the
Soviet Union and that the U.S. can verify
Soviet compliance with treaty limitations.
Senator Henry M. Jackson (D., Wash.),
a power in defense matters, sought to con-
tradict them immediately with a claim
that the pact is "substantially unequal and
' 'unverifiable." He will seek extensive
changes in the treaty when it reaches the
Senate.
By most assessments, the administra
tion must do something rather soon about.
a new intercontinental missile to succeed
the present Mlnuteman'force, which is in-,
creasingly vulnerable- to Soviet rockets.
Such an undertaking, it is argued, is es-
sential if parity is to be maintained with
the Soviet Union and if there is to be hope
of treaty ratification. -
Mr. Brown had this in mind yesterday.
when he spoke of the new mobile missiles
"we're considering." They would be "more
survivable,"'he said, because the treaty
puts a limit on the numbers of warheads
to be carried by each of Russia's big SS-17,
SS-18 and SS-19 intercontinental missiles.
' The treaty limits each side to 2,250
missile launchers and bombers combined.
Moscow would have to dismantle some of
its older..missiles and the U.S. apparently
would have. to discard some older B-52
bombers.
The Defense Department gives this
comparison oaf U.S. and Soviet strategic.
forces as of January is
? Intercontinental missile launchers-
U.S., 1,054; Soviet, 1,400.
+ Submarine missile launchers: U.S.;
656; Soviet, 950. .
?
150 Heavy, bombers: U.S., 348; Soviet,
. `.
? Bombers not in operation but counta-
ble under SALT: U.S., 224; Soviet, 0.
o Total launchers: U.S., 2,282; Soviet,
2,500... _
+ Total nuclear warheads: U.S., 9,200;
Soviet, 5,000.
Treaty defenders argue that Soviet nu-
merical leads are not the product. of SALT
pacts but of unilateral decisions -taken
over the years by each side.
In contending that the treaty produces
Inequalities, Mr. Jackson and those of like
mind underscore the allowance to the So-
viet Union of 308 heavy SS-18 missiles
while the terms would bar more heavy
missiles to the U.S.
There is no plan to produce such heavy
missiles here at this time but the conten-
tion is that equal rights could become im-,,
portant at some future time. Other ine-
qualities alleged are the omission of Sovi-
et Backfire bombers from treaty limita-
tions and the range limits imposed on
cruise missiles that might be deployed. in
Europe with no corresponding limits on.
Soviet SS-20 missiles pointed at Western
Europe.
If the administration can give per-
suasive answers to questions on equality
and on across-the-broad military power,
needs, Senator Nunn said, then. the verifi-
cation issue will. take on major. Import-::
ante in the Senate. If It cannot give such
answers, he said, "then verification be-
,,.
comes irrelevant.",
Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400380089-3