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Introduction: Arms Control and International Security
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13438 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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9 / 1987 |
576 Words |
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Historian Bernard Brodie points out that arms control can be traced back to the early twelfth century when Pope Innocent II tried to ban the crossbow. The pope's edict failed to prevent the use of the deadly new weapon, but men and governments have never stopped trying to control the latest weapons' threat to peace and security. Their efforts have taken on new intensity since World War II with the development of the nuclear bomb and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that travel more than 5,000 miles in half an hour and strike with deadly accuracy.
For the past several years, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, have held a series of meetings to discuss almost the entire range of weapon - ICBMs, INF (intermediate nuclear forces), and the most famous acronym of all, SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative). Even before President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met at Reykjavik in October 1986, citizens of every nation, not just the United States and the Soviet Union, were asking: Will there be deep reductions in strategic arms? Will medium-range missiles be eliminated in Europe? What will happen to SDI?
In this month's Special report, THE WORLD & I offers answers to these and other question related to arms control and international security in the last decade and a half of the twentieth century. Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyoming) and Paul Warnke, former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, debate the role of SDI in the arms control process. Wallop argues that the U.S. military should be given the specific mission to defend the nation against Soviet nuclear missiles, including the speedy production of suitable weapons, like SDI. Warnke warns that deployment of SDI would force the Soviets
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