Evening star., 1962-01-14

war and may in fact be plan
ming it. The enemy may decide
to strike us before we can strike
him. The Soviet shelter pro-
gram, they say, either is small
or does not exist at all.
Second, shelters will Stimu-
late the arms race since the
enemy probably will build more
and bigger weapons in order
to cancel out the protection we
gain from shelters. We then
would build better shelters and
bigger weapons, and the spiral
would take us into a war.
Third, the shelter program
will create a false image Of a
painless" nuclear war and en-
courage us to be reckless. BY
making nuclear war "palata-
ble," the Government will make
it acceptable. 1t is better, the
argument goes, to accept that
nuclear war is unmitigated
disaster.
Pittman Differs
Asked about these argu-
ments, Assistant Secretary of
Defense Steuart L. Pittman,
chief of the shelter program,
said it is more logical to be-
lieve that shelters will make
this country more peaceful.
People who have to contem-
plate the reality of living in
shelters are not going to be
belligerent," he said.
Also, he does not see how
shelters could provoke" the
enemy into striking. I'VE would
disperse our people, not gather
them into shelters, if we were
planning to attack" he said
People in shelters, he pointed
out, cannot hurt the enemy;
only American weapons can do
this. Therefore, the civil de-
fense program should not be
an important factor in an enc
my decision on whether to
strike or to continue the arms
race.
I There is an argument among
civil defense supporters about
the value of the program as a
deterrent" to war. President
Kennedy said last summer that
civil defense will not help pre-
vent War.Gen. Lyman L. Lem
nitzer, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, and Office of
Emergency Planning Director
Frank B. Ellis say it will.
/ Actually they were talking
about different situations, not
disagreeing. President Ken
nedy meant that an enemy
would not be influenced not to
strike the United States, just
because some percentage Of
Americans would be saved dur
ing the war.
Gen. LemnitZer and Nh. Ellis
were saying that American
promises to save NATO Europe
by using all weapons necessary
will be more believable if more
Americans have fallout protec-
ton. Shelters will in this way
help NATO and American big
war forces to deter the enemy
from striking Europe, they say.
There is also an argument
over the effect of shelters or
American foreign policy. The
critics say the new program
and attendant "hySteria" will
show our allies that we are
adopting a fortress America
policy-in effect retreating intr
iSOlationlSm-or, contrariWise
will convince them we are get.
ting trigger happy,
Supporters say they have met
no one who is hysterical anc
that our allies will judge us by
our total national security pro.
: gram-which in fact commits
us more deeply than before tt
the active controlled defense o.
our friends.
If the administration find!
' that civil defense does inter
fere with efforts to create con.
ditionS for peace, then civi
defense will have to go, Mr.
Pittman said.
BuC this does not satisfy tht
critics. Even if shelters shoult
not prove to be a menance be
fore a war, 1t is said, they WoulC
prove a failure during a war.
Tomorrow: What would ;
war be like?