ABSTRACT
From the late 1960s to the decision in June 1973 to proceed with full-scale research, development, and testing of MX, critical decisions were made in ways that do conform to the propositions of the bureaucratic politics approach; in particular, the propositions for the inner layer of procurement activity. Foreign policy considerations, particularly the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks agreement, complicated the basing mode decisions after 1972. In addition to the strategic, foreign policy, and domestic political concerns that the missile and its various basing modes raised was the fact that uncertainties always characterized the system from its origins. The broad consensus about foreign policy objectives that characterized the pre-Vietnam period has been replaced by a clear division within the United States about national security policy. Congress is better equipped to assume an active role in procurement decisions. The MX decision-making pattern illustrates that the process by which certain types of procurement decisions are made has changed.
