A Letter From The Publisher, Oct. 29, 1979

For Washington-based Correspondent Don Sider, reporting this week's cover story on the state of the nation's defense required a four-week investigative campaign that included interviews with most of the Pentagon's top brass. All told, Sider met face to face with 45 military experts, including David C. Jones, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary Harold Brown; and NATO Commander Bernard W. Rogers. "There's a certain affinity that reporters and military folks have for each other," Sider observes.

"I guess anybody who wears a uniform or who carries a pen and pad...

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