Soviet Military Objectives and Capabilities in the 1980s

Abstract

Few areas of U.S. public policy are characterized by greater controversy than national security, and this is especially true today. Views range all the way from the obsolescence of military force in the nuclear era to matching and surpassing all the military capabilities of our potential enemies and then having a substantial margin for error. Accomplished patriotic citizens can be found all across the spectrum, both inside and outside the government, and yet there is remarkable consensus about the underlying objections of national security: we seek to avoid war, especially nuclear war, and we seek to maintain the basic quality of life in the West, especially our extraordinary individual freedom and our unprecedented standard of living. Thus, to a considerable extent, the merit of one position or another depends on different assessments of the facts and different predictions about the consequences of alternative courses of action.