https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/60a0d63a6ec68af4a5ef5ba9b46270b0.pdf b8fbf738bb6d577256168e5c11f4624f PDF Text Text f) t> DoctHffftnt djsclosed mder theAceess to Information Act ivulgue en rertu dqAfe Iptsu/l'pctksfa Tinfonnatic Docu D E P A R T M E N T OF E X T E R N A L AFFA Subject Date MM, Ap X U. 27.*... 196.9 ( Publication .T.he....New..Xork-_Times_ 7 The Arguments Over .Russia's S$-9.. \ .WASHINGTON — Moving to . .a city several* times over, it ; listic missile system-. to , defend center stage in the Nixon Ad1-' se6med*a great waste of re- * the Minuteman siies. ' But this • calculation of. Soviet sources. But its large warhead ministration's argument for. the intentions involves a number of Safeguard missile defense sys-. would ..m<5re than make up 'for tern is a five-year-• old Soviet its'" accuracy, which is only fair, i very basic uncertainties and Mr. if it- were, used to attack Min- " Laird's critics challenge some of ICBM which American intelli, his premises about the SS-9, and uteman missiles in their silos. gence calls the SS-9. % Nonetheless, with a-1 force of therefore the' need for ABM deThe Johnson Administration 9 only about 225. of trienv by the ployment. did not appear unduly alarmed The critics, argue, for, examwinter of the Johnson Adminisby the SS-9. Yet the new.Ad: tration, they seemed no dire" •' pie, th'at it is far from certain ministration, only three months threat to the .1,000 Minutemen. '. that the Russians- have decided in office, seems very much shakBut -then something-, curious - to double their SS-9 force, in en by its potential to destroy light'of the great expense and America's force of Minuteman happened that caused concern the risk that ,Americas,might remissiles in their silos. .Why. this among a ; number of' American 'wide divergence of opinipn-Beofficials. Last ..December/ arter ! sporid „!}&Jbuilding more ICBM's also question whether tween equally weil-inforrrfea* 'ofE "aj'fi'ine months' of*'lw>ESS.-9'ractiyi- i top-.They : ficials? . ' b «..,•, . " b ty; additional ones'1 began turn- '; the Russians can develop war-. "*• heads- that are'"sufficiently- small 1 The answer lies partly in the ing,..up, in spy satellite photographs. While the number, of : and potent to make efficient characteristic of the missile it• multiple warheads. And, most new'.;;site's was small, this"deself, partly in fresh intelligence velopment. raised a question:of ^portent . t h e y question-whethdata, partly ih new technology whether the Russians intended 1*r t h e Russians can so vastly which threatens to .• transform the arithmetic of* nuclear strat- to resume the earlier pace;* improve their missile - accuracy as to dig American ICBM's out egy, and partly- in the politics which would result in; a total of their'reinforced-concrete coof about 500 SS-9's five years of overstatement to bolster a coons. Yet all three of these hence. case. • ' ,feats;' the critics point iout>~Would Even this wouldn't undermine The SS-9 is a 120-foot-tall, be required for a first-strike two-stage missile capable of Minuteman too severely, except capability. hurling a warhead weighing for the prospect of new techSeveral Administration offifrom 8,000 to 12,500 pounds nology: the multiple warhead, cials privately feel Mr. Laird overover a distance of up to 7,000 each segment of which could stated his case when he said miles. be guided accurately to sepathere was "no question" that Beginning ins 1965, the Rus- i rate targets. IThls 'cdUId multiply this^was what the Russians were ! sians installed 40. to 50 'SS-9 s isthe kill x:apability»ofi'each midup to. Actually, within the ineach year, until last spring, when ..sile.,seyeraI-foldv .•*-..•' '••• t •' the program appeared, to stop -. • Government-experts- calculated telligence community, there are three very different theories on entirely. During the same period •that the SS-9 is powerful enough •this:'"'" the Soviets installed about 200 ,to carry either three 4-to-5-meg-: Ohe school holds .that the smaller SS : H missiles annually. aton warheads,-six l-to-2 mega- Russians have a powerful "miliThe SS-9 costs about four ton warheads, or 18' 200-kilotary-industrial complex" that times as much as the SS-11, ton warheads.has successfully argued for at American analysts figure, but it A force of 500 such missiles, least some more missiles. Ancan carry a warhead of from then, becomes very formidable. other group thinks the Soviets' 9 to 25 megatons, compared to It could carry, alternatively, a have decided to seek a firstthe SS-ll's 1-megaton warhead. total of 1,500, 3,000 or 9,000 strike force, more to exploit as A 1-megaton weapon is no warheads. If these could be acan implicit threat in future, conslouch. It is 50 times more powcurately aimied a t . the' .1,000;' frontations t h a n , t o use in a erful than the bombs that deMinutemen, the' -American • 'mis- surprise"1 attack.- Ab third group stroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. siles would unquestionably be t r believes the Russians are simply America's 1,000 Minuteman -and -in great jeopardy: -• ' - . interested in limiting damage 656 Polaris missiles also carry Defense Secretary Melvin R. should nuclear war "break out. 1-megaton warheads. They, are - L;aird\says the Russians- ap/try-^\i£B.M'ss,that can destroy enemy considered more than ample* to' ' bing'fo develop a first-strike cap'a- ? missiles in their silos would relevel most cities. u. :y •—.a ibility and has used this argu-.- • duce damage in Russia fully as The. analysts were puzzled by' ment in calling for the develop- much as anti-missile missiles. the SS-9. Since one. would- kill ment of the Safeguard. antibal- •' . -A ^WILElftM "BEECHER � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDBM00238 Title A name given to the resource Transcript from NYT Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 4/27/1969 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG25-A-3-c, file 27-11-7, "DEFENCE - CONVENTIONAL AND NUCLEAR ARMAMENTS - ANTI - BALLISTIC MISSILES (ABM) = DEFENSE - ARMEMENTS DE TYPE CLASSIQUE ET NUCLEAIRE - ENGINS ANTIMISSILES (ABM)," vol. 10357, part 6, Library and Archives Canada, (LAC). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource External Affairs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Anti-ballistic missiles Description An account of the resource The Arguments Over Russia's SS-9 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en