MX BASING: AGREEMENT IS ELUSIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100130091-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: September 23, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/25: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100130091-6
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LOS ANGELES TIME., S
23 SEPTEMBM 1982
Already. the MX. has consumed " .:
-an Barges in the Great Lakes, an airplanes, buried under
is counties hours of research and stu- -mountains, on trains or trucks. in orbit-can you blame
-- dv And future'costs grill dw av_ . ---~ .-- .t._. ?-- _
:.voc te; .1-ne Problem is, we damned well havQ to have
farther from agreement on the 'some.
r
g
project than when it was first pro- A. ba
s _
s
.e posed eight years ago. its most c. the MR was developed to give the
~; elpment TAP start of Lila runt :._;t_ --A United States-a new generation of Intercontinental nn_
? ?..:. . - ? ? ::; .; ing questions about how the United Ar WJCU uy acn: 7Uv'C` UMM--ana to give this country
y Ststes.cc'elops the basic elements: a deterrent force-that could be relied on to escape de-
S
L - 1 e-...
U I' V In its "siiategy for national security- struction in an attack by the new Soviet missiles,
and now decisions are made on r-?"'- -' -'- --W Js ,?96- on aX rockets,
weapons systems that affecte not. each carrying 10 warheads, have been designed and
I &n 't know where were goingto only the nations survival but its tested, although the missile has never been fired. They
put it, but we'n poins to have it. Y' . .are considered a match for Moscow's bat--or wont,
economic
RO-M P-0A se the lm[ K61110. Am and political health. IT: .
Yoinerabili uestion
test, rsa "Defense Spending --: t3 R
By DAVID WOOD,. With bitter controversy still rag- The knotty problem that has caused the controversy
pmts Staf f Writer . ' = .: ? :'` . i~ desQcsz~i 0W_stk*.J, ate: MX 3s where to put them so they will not be first as?vulnera.
s-bary suggrst3 that-the decision- ?ble to Soviet attack as the last-generation U.S. strategic
:..WASHINGTON-Sitting on the making process has degenerated se- missile. the Minuteman. . ?
desk of Defense Secretary Caspar verely, undermining public con- - Many defense experts believe the latest plan, "dense
W. Weinberger Is a thick folder of fidence in the ration's leaders and. Pack." will work. Other are not so sure.- But there is wide
reports, technical analyses and a breeding skepticism about the wis- -agreement that it is not as good as strategic missile-bas-
sinzle recommendation: The United ' don of all defense spending. ? lng schemes previously proposed-and rejected.
States should spend upward of S25 Retired Adm. .Stanfield Turner , , ' At its most basic. the dense pack concept holds that
billion to build the giant MX missile former bead of t&~ CIA, says he be- :the tightly huddled MX missiles would force the Soviets S TAT
and base it in a. series of closely Neves the problem is that "The U.S. ' many warheads into a small area and that the
'fire .
clustered silos.*.--.-*. . - military has in effect abdicated re- 'first warheads to go off would destroy later arrivals or
All the secretary has to do-is sign sponsibility for strategic thinking - blow them off course, allowing an estimated 70% of the
his name endorsing the plan and about nuclearwar to civilians." AM to survive. -
forward it to the White House by "Nobody has every fought with - This "fratricide" effect would make the missiles less
Nov. 1. Not long afterward, if all these weapons." he observes, "and -vulnerable to a surprise Soviet attack. Pentagon plan-
goes according to schedule, Pres- as a result, civilians can claim al Hers say. . ? .... -
.ident Reagan will announce plans to .- most as much expertise as the mili- One hundred MX's in a. "dense pack" are expected to
go ahead with the MX and the tary." Nothing wrong with that, he cover a triangular area of only 10 square miles, com-
"dense pack" basing mode, as a ma- . adds, except that the debate spun- pared to the rejected Jimmy Carter -race track" system
jor step forward for the nation's de-, - ters into extremes, and "the public that was to spread 4,600 shelters .over hundreds of
Tense. sees that neither military nor civili-. square miles. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming .or
The decisions to be taken this fall an has thought this problem Neilis Air Force Base in Nevada are prime candidates as
are almost unimaginably momen- through very well." . ? ? ? . sites for the "dense pack" at present ' - .
tous. The cost alone is so great for' The danger. Turner and others' If Weinberger rejects the "dense pack" basing con-
-the IN!X system that, if ratified by warn. is that in the ensuing squab- . cept. Many industry and government officials sear that
Congress. it % -III affect the shape ble and loss of public-- confidence, - MX itself will be killed. Congress has already rejected
and limits of all other defense problems will go unresolved and: Weinberger's favored. alternate-"stuffing" the. MX
spending for years to come. And its . national security will be threatened missiles into existing Minuteman silos-because then
effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, by paralysis. - the lei would be just as vulnerable as the present Min-
k-ill influence how the United - -? uteman missiles, unless empty decoy silos and.antimis.
States fends off the threat of nu- silo defense systems are later added. - ?
clear annihilation well into the 21st Some analysts say a consensus on MX basing is hard
Century. to reach because the issue is just too complex and tech- .
Tangled Lulitical Process.
Yet the judgments and analyses
on Weinberger's desk do not reflect
the best that America's justly cele-
brated tradition of scientific and
technical study can produce, ac-
cording to many' experts. Rather,
the latest MX basing proposal-the
39th, by one count-is the result of
an extraordinarily tangled process
of politick maneuvering and com-
er omise.
nical for the public, let alone the politicians, to under.
stand. "You're dealing with really way-out physics. and
the answers just aren't clear-cut," says William Taylor.
of the Georgetown Center-for Strategic and Interna-
tional Studies. "The President and his staff are really
whipsawed-they don't know who to believe."
Others argue that the MX-basing question has been
an agonizing one because the age of the giant ICBM is
over. "We can't find the answer because there isn't
one." says retired Adm. Gene R. LaRocque, who helped
plan the current U.S. nuclear "triad" of land-based. sea-
based and airbone nuclear strategic forces.
i'~rurr2?r .
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/25: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100130091-6