Midgetman in Wonderland

Plans for a smaller missile provoke some big confusions

The U.S. needs a new small missile with a single warhead. Or should it be bigger and have three warheads? A mobile missile, the Reagan Administration has said, will be less vulnerable to a first strike and thus produce a more stable arms-control situation. Or should mobile missiles, as the Administration has also said, be banned in any new arms agreement? "I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly," said Alice to the Caterpillar in Wonderland. "Being so many sizes in a day is very confusing." Her lament & fits the debate over the proposed Midgetman missile.

The original goal was...

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