A Victory for the Pentagon

Congress appears willing to give the armed services just about everything they want in their budget for fiscal 1975. Acting on the first major segment of the budget submitted to Congress, the Senate last week voted to authorize $21.8 billion for weapons purchases and research, some $1.3 billion less than the Defense Department sought; the House earlier approved $22.6 billion. Complains Democratic Senator Thomas J. Mclntyre of New Hampshire, a Pentagon critic: "If there is a question of more strength, the Senators feel it would be best to err on the side of strength."

Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger had asked Congress for the $23.1 billion as part of a total $85.8 billion 1975 budget, plus $6.8 billion for military contracts extending beyond that year. The request, a peacetime record, topped this year's budget by $5.5 billion. Schlesinger blamed the increase on inflation and pay increases. He noted that Pentagon spending now amounts to less than 6% of the U.S. gross national product; it was 8.3% in 1964, the year before the U.S. military buildup in South Viet Nam. Even so, critics like Paul Warnke, an Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Johnson Administration, believe that $11 billion could be trimmed from the budget request without endangering the nation's security.

First Strike. But the mood on Capitol Hill was shaped by the economic slowdown, the apparent lack of progress at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with Russia and the Soviet arms buildup. As a result, most Congressmen were opposed to more than token cuts even before they began work on the Pentagon budget, which is traditionally broken up into several bills. The most controversial is the procurement bill, which contains money for researching, developing and buying new weapons. Later, Congress will vote separate bills for military personnel, retirement, operations and maintenance.

The major debate this year was over one of the smallest items: a request for $77 million. It will finance research to increase the accuracy and yield of the U.S.'s 550 nuclear-tipped Minuteman III missiles and develop a highly accurate MARV (maneuverable re-entry vehicle) warhead that can change direction to elude defensive missiles.

Schlesinger said that the missile improvements were needed to give the U.S. the ability to mount a limited retaliatory nuclear attack on Soviet military forces and installations, including hardened missile sites, without also obliterating population centers (TIME cover, Feb. 11). Opponents of the new policy, led by Senator Mclntyre, argued that Russia will consider the missile improvements an offensive development that will enable the U.S. to launch a limited first strike and knock out Russian missiles, thereby leaving the Soviets unable to launch a second in retaliation. The Russians will undoubtedly try to match the advances, thus triggering yet another escalation in the arms race. Warns Retired Rear Admiral Gene La Rocque, director of the Center for Defense Information: "If both sides have a first-strike capability, the world is a tinderbox." But Mississippi Democrat John Stennis, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, advised his colleagues to give President Nixon "running room" and bargaining chips at the arms limitation talks. SALT will be a major item at the summit conference when the President visits Russia at the end of the month. After a 2 1/2-hr. secret debate, the Senate voted 49 to 37 in favor of the missile improvements, which were earlier approved by the House.

Viet Nam Aid. With little debate, the Senate and House also approved the Pentagon's request for $1.9 billion for two Trident submarines. The Navy wants ten Tridents to start replacing the smaller, slower Polaris-Poseidon submarines by 1978. Both houses voted to continue the B-1 bomber program as well, though they disagreed on how much should be authorized for next year. The Air Force plans to buy 244 B-1s by 1980, at a cost of $15 billion, to replace the aging 440 B-52s.

Both the House and Senate balked, however, at the Administration's request for $1.6 billion in military aid to South Viet Nam. The House voted $1.126 billion, the same amount as this year; the Senate approved only $900 million. In the end, when all the bills have been debated and the appropriations process is completed in joint House-Senate conferences, the Pentagon's budget is expected to be trimmed less than 5%.

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