Technical Issues in National Security: The Case of Minuteman Vulnerability and the Soviet Strategic

During the 1970s, the issue of improved Soviet ICBM accuracy, and its implications for the U.S. strategic posture, came to shape a debate among American defense analysts and policymakers. This centered around growing Soviet strategic capabilities, the ramifications of this for the strategic balance and how the United States should respond. This debate involved both hawks, who believed ICBM vulnerability would lead to Soviet strategic superiority and an undermining of the West, and doves, who did not see improved Soviet accuracy as threatening the U.S. strategic forces' ability to respond to a Soviet strike. As the 1970s progressed, this debate came to play a role in U.S. defense policy and in the SALT II negotiations. As Dr. David M. Walsh shows, this issue, although a technical one at heart, would come to have a significant impact on the shaping of U.S. strategic planning, American views of the superpower military balance and ultimately on U.S.- Soviet relations as well.