On a String

MX survives again, barely

Assuming they are finally deployed as scheduled in 1986, the first MX missiles are to be stored deep in underground silos, a basing mode that was chosen only after more than 30 other methods were considered. Politically, however, the MX (for missile experimental) program has long had a more precarious base: on the edge of a cliff. Beset by controversy through four Administrations, the weapon was saved from extinction by a bipartisan presidential commission a year ago and funded by a reluctant Congress, only after strong lobbying by Ronald Reagan. Last week a compromise proposal allowed the...