SALT as Theology

While the debate over strategic arms limitation rages in Washington, a new simile is circulating within the Federal Government: SALT is like theology. It lends itself to scholarly debate about how many MIRVs can dance on the tip of an SS-19 Soviet missile. But in essence, SALT is a matter of faith; either one believes in reaching an arms agreement or one does not. Adherents consider themselves to be true believers and opponents to be fierce infidels; in between stand the skeptical agnostics. Right now the true believers are not exactly being fed to the lions, but they are losing substantial ground to what they see as an unholy alliance between the Defense Department strategists and some ambitious politicians.

A senior White House security adviser wonders if an agreement should be negotiated before the trend in the primary elections is clear. Says he: "In the period of the primaries, Ronald Reagan could say that President Ford sees himself slipping behind and that he sold out on SALT at too high a price, to keep detente alive. A SALT agreement during the primaries could be a liability." With that partly in mind, another top White House official, himself a true believer, now concedes that the chances of reaching a new SALT accord this year are "less than fifty-fifty."

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