ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the possible implications for Canada of a North American defense policy based on a symbiosis of limited Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) deployment and arms-control strategy. The Soviets, however, have already announced that they plan to develop BMD countermeasures rather than build a defensive system. Development of a partial BMD can also diminish the value of Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles by decreasing their effectiveness, thus inducing the Soviets to bargain away anti-missile weapons more readily in arms-control negotiations. Canadian defense planners certainly recognize that a major part of verification consists of surveillance and that the technological developments of the two programs largely overlap. Those systems, which might be politically more congenial to the Soviet Union, are also those that can become technologically attractive as the development of sensors and computers moves ahead. More American missiles might survive a Soviet attack, but fewer would reach their targets in the Soviet Union.
