Those talking about national defense in Washington these days do not form what one would call a swelling chorus. The air is full of environmental pollution, as it were, and discussion of the nation’s military posture centers more on specific cases than on general problems. There are two reasons for this.
The most unambiguous commitment of the Nixon Administration in general and of President Nixon in particular is to a sound defense system, capable of meeting present and potential threats. Few but the most pessimistic critics doubt this commitment. But because it is a given, it is little discussed. As each phase of the ABM system approaches a vote, it provokes a new general discussion of America’s defense posture. On the whole, though, pundits and members of Congress ruminating on television interview shows and party speakers on the campus circuit are busy trying to psyche out the Administration’s domestic policy—sometimes a formidable challenge indeed—and they leave the less controversial, less ambiguous defense policy to Secretary of Defense Laird and his allies on Capitol Hill.
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