U.S. REASSESSING NUCLEAR ARSENAL AS TREATY WITH SOVIET LANGUISHES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980172-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 172
• Publication Date: January 14, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980172-2
NEW YORK YMEs
14 JANUARY 1980
Ia essence, t.`:e system is deli , ed to i
give ?JOSCOw more targets to s:~Cr,t at
than it has rn:ciear warheads. xs it me
~, +analysts maintain that wi!.^.out the ar-m s
As ~,y. ; freely, Y105CJ41r^I~Itt ~e~Jia:o; tit more
s _t ,Y ,..s 't~i :e,io,):ie .-T. ,,.,.I ti aLO,r',)warheadsonitsmissii sintia
corning decade, which they id would be
more than enough to hit every ML K.
By N RD 3U RT i As a result, a White House sp ialist
S,?tial i ,N-?wYoriITimes said the Administration would probably
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 - Carter Ad- } Edge have to look at other proposals for deploy. I
ministration security aides have i?ealn to Conc?rn Over Soviet ~.d~ge Log the missile, such as puttiro ::-err
sass-ss American nuclear arms pro. ~! The concern, they said, is that without ' aboard aircraft or on a new class of sub-
grams because of the uncertain status of the treaty, Moscow, which is deploying marine that would operate in coastal
the strategic arms treaty. The reassess- new weapons at a faster pace than the waters of the U'iied States.
rnant includes the President's decision United States, could achieve a s gnificant But a high D=n:.agon aide said the op. u
last year to build a new mobile interconti- 1i edge in strategic forces in the mid-19f0's. tons Pad been sbi? ie+i in great _e*.ail ?ind
n?r.tal missile. Critics of the treaty have argued that the rejected as too costly or technically u1-'
Officials in the Defense Department, pact itself would allow the Russians to feasible. The aide said there was increas-
the ` bite House and other agencies said I' have a dangerous lead in strategic weap- l ing support in the Pentagon for using an-
Mr. Car'er's decision to defer Senate ac-
tion on the arms treaty with Moscow,
irnade after, the Soviet intervention in Af-
ghanistan, had created new doubts about
the adequacy of the Administration's nu-
clear plans for the 1980's.
They said Government arms experts,
fearing an acceleration of Moscow's nu-
clear buildup, had started to examine al-
ternatives for rapidly increasing the
country's strategic arsenal in the next
few years.
i Specialists have also begun to question
`whither the Administration's proposed,
mobile missile, :mown as the MX, makes
sense in an era when Moscow could sub-
stantially increase its nuclear warheads.
Would Be Driven Around
The MX rockets, which would be placed
aboard large vehicles and moved around
a series of roadways in the Southwest,
have been designed to reduce the vulner-
ability of America's land-based missiles
to Soviet attack. But some defense ex-
ports argue that without the new arms
treaty, the MX system would soon be-
,come as vulnerable as existing land-
,based missiles, which are housed in un-
derground silos.
The new treaty, which was concluded
last June, would put a ceiling of 2,250 on
the number of missiles and bombers each
side could deploy and would limit special
categories of arms, such as the number of
multiple warheads that could be placed
atop missiles. Officials said that in mak-
ing decisons about the, MX and ' other
weapons, senior aides had assumed that
the treaty would go into effect soon.
White House officials stressed that
while Senate action on the treaty had
been postponed, the accord could be ap-
proved later. But defense analysts ac-
knowledged that they had been Instructed
by senior Pentagon aides to come up with
alternatives for increasing American
missile and -bomber forces beyond the
levels laid out in the treaty.
Officials said one alternative for ex-
panding American forces was to speed up
plans for building a large aircraft forcar-
ryina and launching cruise missiles. The
Air Force is putting cruise missiles on
E-.2 bombers, but some aides are urging I.ment officials argue that any effort to
that a new fleet of jumbo jets, such as the u build these weapons would have profound
hoeing 747, be used to carry as many as consequences for the Soviet-American
75 of the low-flying drones. arms race. "With SALT IT practically
Another option being considered, offi- down the drain, this is hardly the time to
cials said, is to accelerate the Na` y's pro-! scuttle one of the few constraints see now i
gran: for building a new . submarine-I have on the nuclear programs of tier two
launched missile, known as the Trident! sides," an aide said.
II. There is strong support in some quar-
ters of the Pentagon for sp-eding up the
Trident If, because the missile could be
used in pinpoint strikes against Soviet
military targets. -
Mr. Carter agreed on a plan for deploy-
ing 2C0 MX missiles last August after
more than a year of debate over how best
to protect land-based missiles from at-
tack. Under the plan, each MX missile
would be driven around a large, circular
roadway surrounded by 23 shelters that
could be used to launch the missile.
rocket from any Soviet attack, rather
than altering existing plans for the MX.
The deployment of antiballistic ,pis- I
sues is severely limited by a 1972 treaty
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980172-2