NSDD 261 Consultations on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) Program
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OCR Page 1 of 9UNCLASSIFIEL
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Concept of Incremental Capability
-- Further, it is very unlikely that we could ever deploy
defenses capable of fully achieving the overall objective
that the President set for the SDI program in one single
step.
--
It is much more likely that we will have to make future
decisions on a series of defensive options, each of which
provide increments of that capability.
A
fundamental issue, then, is whether we can build the
overall defensive capability we seek in "increments" while
remaining true to our overall objective, while constantly
maintaining the quality of stability and security we seek,
and while guarding against inefficient use of limited
resources.
Incremental Capability and Criteria
One of the first questions to be considered is whether our
previously identified criteria remain valid under such a
concept.
Since our overall objective remains unchanged, we continue
to believe that the defense resulting from the various
increments must be expected to meet our basic criteria.
The criterion of military effectiveness aids us by focusing
the research efforts on outcomes that support our desired
goal, rendering ballistic missiles obsolete.
--
We don't simply seek to complement our offensive retaliatory
forces by defending them against a disarming 1st strike.
On the contrary, we seek a transition to a more stable basis
for deterrence which makes use of the increased contribution
of defensives which threaten no one, and an improved basis
for deterrence which allows us simultaneously to move to
lower overall levels of strategic offensive forces while
always maintaining our security and that of our allies.
The criterion of survivability ensures that the deployment
of defenses does not increase crisis instability. If
vulnerable, it could generate an incentive in a crisis for
an aggressor to attack the defenses.
--
Defenses need not be invulnerable, but must be able to
maintain a sufficient degree of effectiveness to fulfill
their mission, even in the face of determined attacks
against them.
(C
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