Peacetime Defense Spending

Archive Report

Military Spending in Post-Vietnam Era

Schlesinger's View Versus Kissinger's on Detente

Anew national debate is developing over the promise or peril of detente with Russia as it relates to this country's nuclear arsenal. The debate is being brought to public view by a new defense budget and a new secretary of defense, James R. Schlesinger. He is challenging decade-old assumptions about the adequacy of America's nuclear deterrent—even the prevailing concept of how to achieve deterrence.

The defense budget for fiscal 1975, beginning this July 1, presents the highest spending request ($85.8 billion) that Congress has ever received, either in time of war or peace. While many defense items other than nuclear weaponry account for the added costs, the new budget does represent Schlesinger's views. He contends that ...

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