U.S. FACES NUCLEAR PERIL OR SURRENDER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300340106-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2001
• Sequence Number: 106
• Publication Date: May 22, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Apprctd+ftr Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-
TRIBUNE IAAY 2 2 1971
M -- 767,793
S - 1,016,275
?I 3da p~ ~fl~`~:a But the 278-page volume also contains
.~-- ?-- -- --- - hitherto unpublished official reports and
statements by other experts. The com
? o _L~ ~ ear mittee mentioned that it had received a
briefing by CIA Director Richard Helms //
. tt on the accrrYIft ,, cif-Soviet naval forces in
I ~~ ?~1. Q>L L~ all the oceans of the world
BY 117ILLARD EDWARDS
ASHINGTON, May 21--After se-
cret hearings, one of the most
prestigious congressional commit-
tees, traditionally averse to alarmism, has
reached this ominous conclusion:
I
Edwards
J. LL V" - V 1L 1 4 l u
States, unless it
moves quickly to
counter a rapidly
expanding Russian
naval threat, faces
a future in which it
will have to &u?-
render to the So-
viets on all issues, I
or risk nuclear an-
nihilation. Any de
lay may mean "no
future."
Never before,
perhaps, has the
warning of an impending national crisis
been couched in terms so blunt and
The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, j
which voiced it, is an unusual combination?
of nine senators and nine representatives,
created to exercise legislative control in
all matters affecting development of the
most terrifying force known to man..
Perhaps because this jurisdiction is so
sobering, the committee is customarily
nonpolitical and bipartisan. It has 10
Democratic and 8 Republican members,
some hawks, some doves, some conserva-
tive, some liberal. It conducts most
hearings in secret and usually avoids,
publicity.
Its findings assumed added significance
in view of yesterday's announcement by
Moscow and Washington of an apparent
breakthru in arms control talks, hinting
at Russia's motive for agreeing, after 18
months of stalling, to discuss a curb on
offensive as well as defensive weapons.
. HE REPORT WAS BASED mainly on'
the closed-door testimony of Vice;
Adm. IT. G. Rickover.on the status of the
naval nuclear propulsion program which'
the developed and directs.. , _._ , i
All this evidence, even tho heavily
censored to delete classified information,
furnished a dismaying portrayal of rapidly
increasing Communist sea power coin-
cident with a deteriorating American
Navy.
The bald facts: Russia's total surface
fleet of 2,009 units compares with a U. S.:
surface fleet of 563 units. Its `total
submarine strength, 355; the United
States; 1.42: The advantage in nuclear
submarines in which we long took comfort
has disappeared.
Soviet ballistic missile submarines now
patrol off both the Atlantic and Pacific
coasts in easy range of 95 per cent of
America's urban industrial areas.
OTINC THAT RUSSIA. also has
passed the U. S. in the field of long 1
range ballistic missiles, the committee
concluded that unless prompt measures
are taken to build up a nuclear Navy,
the U. S. will have "to give in on all
issues.... There may be no future...
We will soon find ourselves unable to
defend our national interests."
Strong words, these, but! they were i
drowned out in the congressional clamor)
over other issues, To Rickover, it was an
old story, this placidity in the face of what
he regards as a genuine peril. He recalled
that some newspapers criticized him as
"inflammatory" a year ago when, he l
predicted that Russia would go ahead of
Ithe U. S. in nuclear submarines. That
,forecast has been proved correct and
lRussia's submarine production rate [15 a
year] will soon put it far in the lead.
The committee noted that the public is
.tired of war and averse to increased
military spending. But it urged recollec- I
tion of the statement by President
Eisenhower quoted on the keel of the
nuclear aircraft carrier which bears hisai
name: .
"Until war is eliminated from interna
tional relations, unpreparedness for it is
well nigh as criminal as war itself."
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300340106-8