Sound legal reasoning or policy expedient? the "new interpretation" of the ABM Treaty

In: International security, Band 11, S. 71-93

Abstract

Interpretation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, announced by the Reagan administration, Oct. 6, 1985. Announced by national security adviser Robert McFarlane and subsequently reaffirmed by State Department legal adviser Abraham D. Sofaer in testimony to Congress, Oct. 22, 1985; assertion that the treaty permits both the United States and the Soviet Union to develop and test anti-ballistic missile systems based on futuristic technologies, such as the space-based laser and particle beam technologies being explored under the administration's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).