The Sentinel Decision

Abstract

The US Administration did not feel that the Minuteman force was immediately endangered by the Soviet build-up. Indeed so long as destruction of the Soviet Union could be ‘assured’ in the aftermath of a surprise first strike it saw no serious threat in terms of any criteria it recognised as being strategically relevant. The Administration did however recognise the threat posed by the build-up to the mobilisation of political support within the US for its strategic policies. McNamara’s policy of restraint, with offensive forces frozen at current levels and ABM deployment forsworn, was put under severe strain by a major Soviet surge in both these areas.