Nation: Can the U.S. Defend Itself?

Soviet military buildup worries leading U.S. defense experts

"We face a challenge, and we will do whatever is necessary to meet it." So vowed Jimmy Carter in a major statement on U.S. defense policy earlier this month. Exactly what needs to be done—and what will be done—is not clear, however. Even the nature of the challenge from the Soviet Union is in dispute. Every day, behind the doors of congressional committee rooms, experts argue about how much the U.S. must spend to protect itself and how these vast sums (more than $115 billion in the current...