ABSTRACT
The growth of Soviet strategic nuclear power, the enhancement of Soviet conventional capability, and improvements in Soviet strategic mobility, in Zbigniew Brzezinski’s view, posed new challenges for the US military posture. Several different force options came under consideration during 1979 for increasing the US military presence in the Southwest Asia region. The US Army’s ground forces are the least mobile military component among the US armed services; they cannot easily be shifted to another theater should a suddenly more urgent crisis elsewhere demand a redeployment of US forces. While the US secretary of defense appeared to establish criteria for the use of force overseas that were so rigorous that any conflict short of a major world war might not merit American intervention, nevertheless Southwest Asia and the Persian Gulf in particular remained a vital American mission that received US military support when the “test” had to be made.
