The Senate has forced a radical change in President Reagan`s defense authorizing program by voting to limit the deployment of 10-warhead MX misiles to 50 missiles. That`s half the number the President sought in his missile defense plan. A bipartisan compromise reached at the 11th hour avoided a greater defeat, but it holds production of the missile to 12 in fiscal 1986 and to no more than 21 in 1987.
Although the hard-won MX production line will be kept in operation, the changed political climate on the highly accurate missile will be encouraging for the Soviet Union`s hard-bargaining negotiators in Geneva. The United States now will have 500 fewer warheads with which to bargain in the intense nuclear limitation talks. The Senate has given the Kremlin`s team an unexpected score, and the Soviets didn`t even have to cough up a quid pro quo. With the last-minute compromise, the Reagan administration managed to overcome a move by Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia to cut production to 40. Trying to save face, an administration official said the deal allows the United States to pause at 50 and ”take a look at it again in a year . . . (to) see if we need to go beyond that. Why put ceilings on
development?”
That`s a fair question. The sensible route is to let the Soviets determine through a willingness to compromise how many MX missiles, if any, should go into production.
