WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. CHECK PAGE 58

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200920009-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST"T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-R
ARTICLE R
ON PAGES
WASHINGTON POST
27 September 1985
William F. Buckley Jr.
Check Page 58
Su that we had a satellite of the Peeping Tom
vane whose prismatic powers were so tormidable as to
leave the meaning a viet installation absolutely
naked to their enemies. Suppose that for
diplomatic reasons you desired not to publicize what ex-
actly it Is that this viet facility is up to. But on the
other hand, you do want to be suggestive about it. And
the
CIA. And you say to hiM "barn, here's a picture
the research ment site the Soviets have
prro en
at we c oo i t want our shot of it to be that obvi-
OUIL give us an artists rendition and here are
three details ' want you two obscure-over there, that
it
Ana loomake it look just like a traditional uncTa right?
ere, take out this detail, and detail. Got
At Good bOy, Sam."
the reading public, a month or two later, finds itself
staring at what could be a cornfield in Iowa with a gran-
ary and something that looks a little like a church stee-
ple. And the caption reads, "The directed energy R&D
site at the Sary Shagan proving ground includes ground-
based lasers that could be used in an anti-satellite role
today and possibly a BMD role in the future."
And then, in the months ahead, we listen to speeches
from Mikhail Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze, and
they tell us over and over again that the Soviet Union
isn't testing any Star Wars technology. Those of our peo-
ple in the know just wink when they hear this. But the
American people and allies of America themselves don't
really know the full story of Sary Shagan.
The term "arms race" took on, over the past dozen
years, very unpleasant sounds. Critics of "arms races"
,were so scornful of unnecessary monies spent, of fetishis-
tic pursuit of military redundancy, of a Strangelove's love
of highkill for the sake of highkill, that the entire other
meaning of "arms race" tended to get lost.
Suppose that it is the intention of the Soviet Union to
develop a comprehensive defense of its own territory
such as to render it substantially immune to damage
from hostile nuclear weapons. Suppose its motivation in
pursuing that objective is to permit it to pursue its black-
mail against the free world sufficient to achieve ulima-?
tum status. Suppose then that the free world, reacting
healthily, desired to prevent this from happening by
achieving a complementary security of its own-by culti-
vating a Star Wars technology.
What you have there is the makings of a race. Not
necessarily a race we began, but certainly a race we de-
sire not to lose. What astonishes, then, is that whoever is
in charge of security arrangements in Washington is at-
taching more importance to keeping from general circu-
lation knowledge of what we know the Soviet Union is up
to than to doing exactly the opposite. Nothing would help
more to advance a general understanding of, and then an
enthusiasm for, development of our own Strategic De-
fense Initiative than the disclosure that the Soviet Union
is very far along in the development of its own.
Here is one for Congress. Get the boys from DOD
over, and ask them certain questions. Begin by asking
about page 58 in the publication "Soviet Military
Power," 1985.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200920009-3