WHY SDI NEEDS A JUMP-START

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660035-4
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 22, 2012
Sequence Number: 
35
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
June 6, 1991
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP99-01448R000401660035-4.pdf84.53 KB
Body: 
Sl Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23 :CIA-RDP99-014488000401660035-4 The WeSh;ngton Post _ _ The New York Times The Washington Times _ The Wall Street Journal The Christian Science Monitor _ New York Oaily Nsws USA Today The Chicago Tribune STAT Why SDI needs ajump-START uring the Persian Gulf ~tiar the ent,re trorld ?'as amazed at pictures illustrating the accu- racy of high-tech American airplanes and ordnance. But even though our pilots en- joyed absolute control of the skies over Iraq, there wasn't much they could do on cloudy evenings to stop Saddam Hussein's terrorists from rolling out prim- itive,truck-mounted Scud missiles and launching them in the direction of Tel Aviv Had Saddam had nuclear warheads, these much-derided and highl}? inaccurate missiles would have been plenty accurate to execute a latter-day Holocaust, or at least credibl}? threaten one. Tb terrorize the world, Saddam ?~ould not have needed the 10-warhead, rail-mobile SS-?4 and the one- warhead, truck-mounted SS-25 intercontinental ballis- tic missile which round out the Soviet nuclear stock- pile. 1Vor would he have needed the so-called "Satan" SS-18 ,ti1od-5 heavy ICBM, which carries as many 14 warheads. No, Saddam would not have needed them. But Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who is asking the West for tens of billions in aid, thought he needed them so badly that he has spent far more money than he can ever get back in Western aid to develop, improve and deploy these weapons of mass destruction. Why? Because they are the chips that buy the Sovi- ets a supetpowter seat in the game of world politics. If Mr. Gorbachev were to surrender his ability to annihi- late the American or European peoples, he would have little influence over the policies of the West. Mr. Gorbachev may be too shrewd and subtle a poker player to ever flash his revolver openly: But some of his subordinates are not. Last week, for example, Col. Viktor Alksnis, whom former Foreign Minister Eduard' Shevardnadze dubbed the "Black Colonel;' warned the West of nuclear annihilation if it refused to dump more lucre into the Kremlin's coffers. "If civil war here is unavoidable, it will involvle nuclear arms and ??eapons of mass destruction;' he told ~; 13r~~;~;?. magazine. "des, ?~e shall perish, but ice shall take ~;;~ ?'hole world to the grave. you ?~ill perish ~+ ith us. (}:~~; ~~ ?~ill be no borders. The conflict will splash user .hrn'. first into neighboring countries, then into a ~rur!~ `~;- tastrophe:' Meam~?hile CIA Director Wiliam Webster roles rc- rters last week there is evidence that the J?t [r'.; emse ves are uneas a ut securut t eu nu ~es ,n ~~ civi war. An B ertz re rt m e 'as rn~Jt,m Mmes at a recent CIA report reveals that the ~o~ ;eta have recentl de to ed 18 new launchers for ~~-,~ missiles. Just last August, Mr. S evar nadze prorn,se the United States that no new such launchers ~~~ould he deployed after January. How is the Bush administration responding to ~h~ Soviet bluff and bluster and continuing nuclear army buildup? Mainly by pulling out all the stops to ad~?ance a strategic arms reduction treaty. Unfortunately, the START treaty that i~Ir. Bush hopes to sign will work to the detriment of L'.S. security It will increase the power of the Soviet nuclear arsenal relative to the US. deterrent. Major treaty safeguards have been negotiated away. Mobile missiles, which America has never built, will not be banned. Thus Soviet SS-24s and SS-25s will remain. Modernization of missiles will continue. A force of 308 Soviet SS-18 "~Iod 4s"will be reduced to 154 SS-18 "Mod Ss:' The 154 ~Iod Ss could do the same job as 308 Mod 4s. America failed to counter Saddam's Scuds with moral suasion and a flight wing of Stealth fighters. But we did knock some down with a primitive anti-ballistic missile called the patriot. If Mr. Bush wants to secure America against the threat posed by the Soviet nuclear buildup and Soviet civil instability, he should push energetically to persuade Congress that now is the time to rejuvenate America's strategic deterrent and begin building the Strategic Defense Initiative. Page Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/23 :CIA-RDP99-014488000401660035-4