Triad or Dyad

During the lame-duck session of Congress starting November 29, the most important challenge facing the President will be, not Social Security, but the strategic doctrine of the United States. Since taking office, the President has been pushing the modernization of the nuclear triad: the B-l bomber with the follow-on Stealth (the air leg); the Trident submarine (water); and the MX missile (land). Will the triad survive?

To date Congress has drifted with the President on his proposed modernization of strategic forces, adhering to its tradition of never having killed a major strategic-weapons program advanced by an incumbent President. Defense cancellations by Congress during its just-finished session were non-nuclear items: the Lockheed C-5 transport, and the $54-million program for a new generation of lethal nerve-gas weapons.

JM

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John McLaughlin

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During the lame-duck session of Congress starting November 29, the most important challenge facing the President will be, not Social Security, but the strategic doctrine of the United States. Since taking office, the President has been pushing the modernization of the nuclear triad: the B-l bomber with the follow-on Stealth (the air leg); the Trident submarine (water); and the MX missile (land). Will the triad survive?

To date Congress has drifted with the President on his proposed modernization of strategic forces, adhering to its tradition of never having killed a major strategic-weapons program advanced by an incumbent President. Defense cancellations by Congress during its just-finished session were non-nuclear items: the Lockheed C-5 transport, and the $54-million program for a new generation of lethal nerve-gas weapons.