Defense: A Glimpse of the 70s

Whatever the immediate demands of Viet Nam, the U.S. cannot afford to ignore the ever-changing nature of the wars that it may face a decade hence. Last week, in an unusually frank exposition of American strategy for the 1970s, Secretary of Defense McNamara discussed the potential threats and the retaliatory measures that dominate Pentagon planning.

Despite the explosion of two atomic devices in Red China, McNamara told a House Armed Services Subcommittee, Peking will not pose a nuclear threat to the U.S. until some time after 1975. Even then, he said, its...

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