'DRAMATIC' SOVIET WEAPONS BUILDUP SEEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330070-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 70
• Publication Date: June 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302330070-7
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WASHINGTON TIP9ES
27 June 1935
`Dramatic' Soviet weapons
buildup seen
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
TWo senior intelligence officials tes-
tified yesterday that the Soviet Union is
continuing alarge-scale strategic weap-
ons buildup that could lead to the deploy-
ment of 16,000 to 21,000 Soviet nuclear
warheads by 1994.
There are an estimated 9,000 war-
heads in the Soviet arsenal.
Deputy CIA Director for Intellience
Robert ates an Nationa me tgence
Officer Lawrence Ger a ioint
Senate hearing that new Soviet weapons.
deplovments while _ -It dr. J ztic +n
scale eventually will replace all current
strategic forces with modern and less
lnl~nPTAh~P n+~bile weapons.
Neither official would comment on the
implications of the Soviet buildup for the
U.S.-Soviet nuclear weapons balance.
But Mr. Gershwin stressed that the
Soviet buildup, especially advances in
mobile ICBM efforts, has progressed at
a constant pace.
"It's dramatic in that there is a lot
Sen. 'Ibd Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman
of the Defense appropriations subcom-
mittee that held the hearing, countered
the Democrats' charges by saying the
hearing was the result of bipartisan
requests for a declassified version of
briefings held earlier this year. The hear-
ing was also sponsored by the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
He described the intelligence estimate
as "things about the Russians we know
f andl they know, but the public doesn't
know."
The two officials were asked by Sen.
William Proxmire, D-Wis., to explain the
difference between a previous estimate
showing an estimated 2 percent annual
growth rate in Soviet weapons spending
and the levels presented at the hearing.
Mr. Gates defended the intelli ence
esttma e, a mtttmg t at ovtet s endin
leve s are i icu t to etermine accu-
ra e
"What we do know is what we see on
the roun r. Gates sai in a reference,
to mte i ence anal sis of satellite hoto-
rg ap s.
going on;' Mr. Gershwin said of new Sen. James McClure, R-Wyo., a vocal
Soviet weapons deployments. critic of administration arms control
t
-
f
er
yes
The CIA officials said Soviet defense. policies and a key supporter o
' h 'd th latest intelligence
e
of 3 percent to 4 Qer~;ent of the Soviet
ross national roduct eer ear over the
r~Y+ ive vears Last vear the Soviet GNP_
wa 2.35 trillion.
Yesterday, the House approved $292
billion for the U.S. defense budget in a
move that essentially freezes defense
spending at current levels with no
allowance for inflation. It is about $10
billion below the Senate budget passed
three weeks ago, which lets spending
increase at the predicted inflation rate.
The unusual testimony by the intel-
ligence officials was criticized by some
Democratic panel members, who
charged that the report on Soviet weap-
ons "politicized" the intelligence commu-
nity in an effort to garner public support
for the Reagan administration's defense
spending request.
The administration had requested a
5.9 percent increase in defense spending
beyond inflation in an initial budget,
request of $322 billion.
days eartng, sat
estimate shows "a serious missile gap"
between the United States and the Soviet
Union.
He said the report is one "indication
that the Soviet Union plans to break out
of the SALT II and ABM treaties:'
Mr. Gershwin testified that though-the
latest estimate does not ,judge it "likely"
the Soviets will deploy a nationwide anti-
ballistic missile system, "the Soviets
could deploy such a system in the next
few years:'
He said that by the end of the decade
the Soviets will have deployed all the
components necessary for a nationwide
ABM system, including a network of six
large early-warning radars and a new
system of fast-acceleration ballisitc mis-
sile interceptors.
"Our evaluation is that by the 1990s
they could have in place a faicly large
ABM system;' Mr. Gershwin said. "-They
have provided for the option:' ~
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302330070-7