ABSTRACT
The initial Soviet response to PD 59 was along the lines of their reaction to previous US strategic doctrine. The United States was once again trying to break out of the strategic impasse forced upon it by the growth of Soviet strategic power by devising a "new" strategy that the United States supposedly believed would bring it victory in the event of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. The actual Soviet view of the countervailing strategy as enunciated in PD 59, shows that the Soviets were well aware of the intent behind the latest US strategic doctrine, as well as of its shortcomings. Soviet employment of its military power continued the pattern of gradual but constant increase in scale, while Soviet military programs showed increasing efforts to augment even further the Soviet ability for rapid power projection to such areas as Africa and the Middle East.
