Should the U.S. build up an elaborate and expensive system of defense against atomic-thermonuclear attack, or can it rely on retaliatory striking power to deter attack? Last week two of the nation's most respected atomic scientists argued that deterrent power is necessary but not sufficient.
Speaking in Buffalo, Dr. Ralph E. Lapp, director of the Nuclear Science Service, blasted the deterrent theory as a doctrine of "peace through mutual terror." Instead of assuring peace, said Lapp, possession of retaliatory atomic-thermonuclear weapons by both sides will create an "utterly unstable" situation in which one side or the other might attempt to...
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