POLICY ISSUES IN AMERICAN SECURITY POLICY AND POLICY‐MAKING USING AND CONTROLLING NEW WEAPONS: Arms, Arms Control and Alliance Relationships: The Case of the Cruise Missile

In: Policy studies journal: the journal of the Policy Studies Organization, Volume 8, Issue 1, p. 37-45

Abstract

ABSTRACTNATO may be confronting a crisis over the cruise missiles. Some allies may seek longer‐range, nuclear‐armed missile which could enable them to strike at Soviet MR/IRBMs and at other targets inside the USSR; others (along with many Americans) aim at restricting both the range and the missions of cruise missiles. The first option could jeopardize detente, inhibit further progress in SALT and conceivably weaken American control over the uses of nuclear weapons in time of war. The second could cause strains between the United States and its European allies. The best policy would seem to be to (1) delay any decision on cruise missile development and deployment in Europe; (2) seek a two‐year freeze on all deployment of new nuclear delivery vehicles in Central Europe and of additional Soviet SS‐20 IRBMs; (3) use this "breathing space" to seek agreement on the limitation of cruise missiles, MR/IRBMs and other "gray area" weapons in the region "from the Atlantic to the Urals."