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Halt and Negotiate. In the Pentagon, defense experts are drawing up plans for getting supplies to Tito should he need them—and ask for them. In NATO planning groups, it already is a foregone conclusion that the U.S. and perhaps other NATO powers would airdrop modern weaponry and supplies to Tito's partisans.
There are two other levels of possible U.S. response. The first would be for the Sixth Fleet to ward off Russian naval activity in the Adriatic, preventing the Soviets from seizing Yugoslav ports by sea. The hope would be that during this period the U.S. could persuade the Russians to halt the invasion and negotiate before they extended their control to the western part of the country. The second level would be for the U.S. to send planes from the Sixth Fleet's two carriers and bases in Italy and Greece in support of Tito's forces. Such action, of course, could lead to dogfights between Russian MIGs and U.S. Phantoms—and the threat of World War III.
The possibility of a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union fills U.S. planners with foreboding. Doubtlessly, the prospect of becoming involved with the U.S. evokes the same response among the Soviets. This mutual feeling of apprehension may, in the long run, prove to be the most effective deterrent against a Russian move to overthrow Communism's veteran rebel.