ABSTRACT
US-Soviet tensions clearly are responsible for the controversy that surrounds arms control. One reason that arms control is in crisis is that Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and other negotiating enterprises have "accompanied and concealed" a tremendous expansion of Soviet military power during the 1980s. SALT's almost pernicious impact on Minuteman vulnerability is mirrored, in some respects, by its consequences for the changing nuclear balance in the European theater. A central fallacy of the existing approach to arms control is the belief that the primary function of negotiations is to alleviate sources of military instability. While negotiations alone are unlikely to produce solutions to military problems, arms control, in conjunction with US defense initiatives, can offer some promising approaches to coping with new Soviet challenges. The strongest military argument that can be made for SALT II is that by putting a ceiling on Soviet missile warheads, the agreement could potentially enhance the survivability of the MX.
