SPENDING RATE FOR ARMS HELD CUT BY SOVIET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301210029-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: February 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/08/22 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301210029-1
c 1"r r.- 2
spending rate
for arms held
. cut by soviet
. - WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The,
CIA, apparently contradicting J'e-
ense Secretary Caspar W. Weinber-
;,ger, said in testimony made public
.yesterday that the Soviet Union re-
"duced by half the rate of growth in
its defense spending starting in 1977.
"Before 1976, growth in total de-
fense spending had averaged about
;.four to 5 percent per year. after
1976 the rate of increase in sndin
dropped appreciably, to about 2 per-
cent a year," the Central Intelli-
gence Agency said.
The testimony-by-Deputy CIA Di-
Lrector Robert Gates was=given last
Novemi er"2l-to-a-congr-essional eco-
nomic subcommittee and was made
public yesterday by Senator William
Proxmire.
- Mr. Proxmire, a Wisconsin
-Democrat, commented that "it is
tune for Washington to take official
i4notice that Soviet military procure-
-rnent has been stagnant for the past
,;-s yen years and' to stop acting like
nothing has changed."
Mr. Gates's testimony appeared
tfo conflict sharply with Mr. Wein-
?erger, who has said repeatedly that
;.a.;;Soviet military build-up has pro-
;seeded unabated since the 1970s.
The.- Pentagon declined to com-
;;ment on the report.
BALTIMORE SUN
22 February 1985
The Pentagon and CIA have been
~ten ed in a running battle over
,,$oviet defense s nding rates and
~. Mr. Gates said in his testimony that
,.the intelligence agency was confi
den of its analysis.
"His analysis went throueh 1983,
and he said that since then the CIA
-had "noted evidence of some accel-
eration in the rate of increase in de-
ll
.7- -Mr. Gates estimated that Moscow
spends 13 or 14 percent of the coun-
try's gross national product on de-
fense.- The United States spends
-oabout 7 percent of its GNP, which is
4'`:nwch larger than the Soviet Union's.
'The Soviet economy pulled out of
`a -decline in 1983, Mr. Gates said,
,growing about 3 percent, but growth
'slowed'to 2 percent in 1984 because
^'af a poor harvest.
He, said the agency was forcast
ng : that "the upswing in GNP
growth could continue for another
year, or, two."
_~-_Although defense spending
;,;growth. slowed sharply for seven
years, Mr. Gates said the Soviet de-
fense establishment managed to con-
tinue modernizing and improve its
military.
During that time, he said, the
Soviets purchased 1,100 interconti-
nental ballistic missiles, more than
-Z00-sea-launched ballistic missiles,
Flo-0 bombers and 5,000 fighters.
"Despite the scale of the ongoing=
.
c Soviet defense programs, the growth
I' bt spending .did slow," Mr. Gates
J;said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/08/22 : CIA-RDP99-01448R000301210029-1