OPINION
The Michigan Daily Wednesday,_August 7, 1985

be iMid2igan BautI
Vol. XCV, No. 47-S
95 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by Students at
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
Orientation blues
* R EPRESENTATIVES FROM the Michigan Student
Assembly and the Office of Orientation have been
spending quite a bit of time recently quarreling about the
way freshmen orientation is run. Unfortunately, instead of
clearing up flaws in what incoming students learn about
the University, the fight has turned into a petty arguement
over how to resolve the conflict.
What we have now, it seems, is a failure to com-
municate.
The two groups plan to meet sometime soon. They would
be well-advised to dwell on getting rid of the silly orien-
tation policies - censoring literature, for example - and
not on exchanging accusations.
MSA charges that the orientation program gives in-
coming students a distorted impression of the University
because freshmen are not exposed to enough student
organizations, and information that does not reflect
favorably on the University - such as the code and sexual
assault - is censored. That is a legitimate and pressing
concern.
But MSA resorted to petty politics by distributing copies
of a letter about the issue in Alice Lloyd dormitory, where
the orientees are staying, in violation of security
regulations. This served only to upset the orientation
leaders, the vast majority of whom are perfectly willing to
discuss the problems the University faces: the code,
sexual assault and harassment, minority recruitment, the
bureaucracy, the size of the institution, and exorbitantly
high tuition, to name just a few.
Nevertheless, the orientation program itself is not
geared to show the faults of the University. The only group
that is allowed to set up a table at Alice Lloyd is ROTC,
which obviously does not provide a diverse marketplace of
ideas.
The orientation office maintains that it sent a letter
about how to register for setting up a table to the so-called
"umbrella organizations," such as MSA and the
Progressive Student Network, but MSA says it never
received the letter. At this point, however, that is unimpor-
tant. Both MSA and the orientation office simply need to sit
down and figure out what changes to make for future
orientations.
Letters to the Daily should be typed,
triple-spaced, and signed by the in-
dividual authors. Names will be withheld
only in unusual circumstances. Letters
may be edited for clarity, grammar, and
spelling.

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Americans dominate arms race

By David C. Morrison
The CIA may have done what anti-
nuclear lobbyists could not. A recent
report by the agency debunks several
myths about the Soviet arms build-up
commonly used to justify some of the
biggest United States military expen-
ditures.
Senate conservatives like James
McClure (R-ID), Jesse Helms (R-
NC), and Steven Symms (R-ID) have
long pressed for the release of the
CIA's secret estimates of Soviet
strategic nuclear weapons programs.
The "true facts," they've claimed,
would scare the pants off Congress
and the public, generating much-
needed support for President
Reagan's sagging defense initiatives.
On June 26, with White House
blessing, the CIA finally went public
with its latest National Intelligence
Estimate (NIE) in a rare open Senate
hearing.
Ironically, the declassified NIE
fails to support the alarmist thesis
gaining so much currency today. The
Soviets have not amassed warheads
far in excess of treaty agreements.:
Nor are they on the brink of stunning.
breakthroughs in anti-submarine
warfare, air defense and ballistic'
missile defense.
Undeniably the Soviets are running
a vigorous arms race, a self-evident
fact which the CIA reports documen-
ts. But CIA figures failed to substan-
BLOOM COUNTY

tiate scarier claims repeated in The CIA doesn't share that sense of
Congress and in the press whenever urgency. It asserts that our present
the military budgets are debated. bombers and missiles are effective
Examples: enough that "Soviet air defenses
" The CIA credits the Soviets with during the next 10 years probably
"over 9,000 deployed warheads" on would not be capable of inflicting suf-
bombers, sea- and land-based ficient losses to prevent large-scale
missiles. This accords with other damage to the USSR;"
widely accepted bean counts showing " The Soviet Union already has a
the U.S. retaining its lead in ground-launched anti-satellite ASAT)
deliverable warheads, but not with an Missile. Hence the need, say some,
often circulated analysis giving the for the United States' own $4.1 billion
Soviets more than 20,000 warheads on program to develop a more flexible,
land-based missiles alone. air-launched ASAT system.
The NIE does not support charges But the CIA reports that, "While the
that heavy SS-18 missiles illegally Soviets seek to be able to deny use of
carry, not the permitted ten space in wartime, current Soviet anti-
warheads, but 14, and new SS-25s, not satllite capabilities are limited and
one warhead but three; fall short of meeting this apparent
" Alarms are frequently raised that requirement;"
Soviet anti-submarine breakthroughs " The Soviets have recently built
may soon permit them to sweep the large radars - could they be part of
oceans clean of U.S. missile sub- an illegal anti-ballistic missile (ABM)
marines, tendering impotent what is defense? Those who argue yes push
often called the most survivable for Reagan's Strategic Defense
"leg" of the U.S. nuclear triad. Initiative or "Star Wars" program as
But the CIA says it does "not a needed response and,
believe there is a realistic possibility The CIA, however, underlines "un-
that the Soviets will be able to deploy certainties about whether the Soviets
in the 1990s a system that could pose would rely on these radars to support
any significant threat to (missile a widespread ABM deployment."
submarines) on patrol;"
" Some members of Congress hold
that the United States'. diminishing Morrison is a senior research
ability to penetrate Soviet airspace analyst at the Center for Defense
has created the need for the expen- Information in Washington, D.C.
sive B-1 and "Stealth" bombers and He wrote this for Pacific News
the Advanced Cruise Missile. Service.
by Berke Breathed
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