War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Ashton Carter, 1987 [1]
Description:
Ashton Carter was a Defense Department Consultant and a co-author of a 1984 study on the feasibility of a missile defense shield. The interview concentrates on the MX missile, basing modes, survivability, and related strategic and political questions. His work on the Office of Technology Assessment study looked at every possible basing mode including submarines, and treated connected topics such as launch-under-attack and the use of deception. In the interview he relates some of the criticisms against these options. Discussing MX, he explains how several of its problems derived at least partly from it having two very different missions. He notes that he can understand Soviet fears about the missile as a first-strike weapon, particularly if large numbers are contemplated and survivability does not appear to be a major U.S. concern. Returning to basing issues, he describes the Townes Panel, the Dense Pack option, and the Scowcroft Commission, calling the latter's solution a "sad and pathetic end" to efforts to find a survivable basing mode. The discussion then turns to alternatives such as Midgetman and likely future threats to survivability, and from there to retaining a first-strike capability for Europe, counterforce issues, and targeting Soviet command-and-control. He compares Reagan and Weinberger to Carter and Brown - the former as ordinary citizens and the latter as experts who looked at the issues in far more scientific detail.
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