U.S. -Soviet Arms Accords Are No Bar to Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative

Publication Date: April 1985

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s):

Research Area: International relations; Military and defense

Keywords: National security

Type: Report

Abstract:

Arms control should not be an end in itself but a means of improving U.S. security. The U.S. could use either Moscow's repeated violations of the Treaty as proof of Soviet abrogation or the threat posed to supreme U.S. interests by the unremitting Soviet offensive buildup as grounds for legal U.S. withdrawal. All options must be weighed at any given moment on the basis of an informed assessment of the status of Soviet ballistic missile defense, Soviet treaty compliance, and the strategic offensive balance.