THE Nixon Administration's proposed anti-ballistic missile system promises to be the most complex weaponry ever devised. Difficult as it is for laymen to comprehend the technical and strategic functions of the ABM, the great debate over whether the U.S. should deploy the Safeguard system is made infinitely more complicated by public uncertainty as to what the Russians may be planning in the way of offensive or defensive weapons. Last week, to bolster the Administration's case for ABM, Defense Secretary Melvin Laird made public some startling—and previously classified—information.
He told members of two Senate...