Defense: The Missing Card

Defense Secretary Robert S. Mc-Namara's announcement that the U.S. will build a "thin" anti-ballistic-missile shield against a possible Chinese attack (TIME, Sept. 22) came under attack itself last week as proposing both far too little and much too much.

The Administration had had the option to build no ABM system at all, or to construct either the thin shield, aimed at blunting a strike from Peking, or a "thick" shield, designed to cope with an all-out onslaught from Moscow. As usual, Lyndon Johnson staked out the middle ground, and, as usual, he and...