ABSTRACT
President Reagan's directive to assess the role of defensive systems has required the Future Security Strategy Study to consider the relation of the systems to the strategic objectives and to Soviet programs and policy. The massive increase in Soviet power at all levels of conflict is eroding confidence in the threat of US nuclear response to Soviet attacks against the allies. The public in the United States and other Western countries is increasingly anxious about the danger of nuclear war and the prospects for a supposedly unending nuclear arms race. The path to the President's ultimate objective may be designed to go directly toward the ultimate objective of a full, multilayered system that offers nearly leakproof defenses against very large offensive forces. Defensive systems affect attack planning in a variety of ways, depending on the characteristics and effectiveness of the defenses, and the responses of the defense and offense to the measures adopted by the other side.
