Energy and Defense

It is no secret that US defense is in a bad way. Since 1954, the defense budget has shrunk from 12% of GNP to 5.9%; and more than half of that now goes for pay and retirement costs.

The SALT agreements were concluded with a power incapable of keeping any contract, and they legalized the status quo except where it was favorable for the US. But that is not the sorriest part of the sorry story, for the Soviets have shown little inclination to commit nuclear suicide. What they have shown once again in last fall's Middle East adventure is their unabated lust for aggression by conventional warfare.

America s answer has been the buzz word of detente, supply of technology, and offers of billions in credit for one sided trade in return for which the Soviets can offer little beyond vodka and Lenin's collected works. Soviet natural gas in the 1980's will hopefully not be needed, and probably not be available; but the rabble rousers who query the statistics of the American Petroleum Institute have found someone else to trust: Comrade Brezhnev.

The first in line for the step by little step Soviet aggressions is the US Navy. The average age of its ships is 16 years. The Soviet navy retires its ships after ten. The Soviet naval build up is the most feverish known to history, and the US Navy is now outnumbered in cruisers and destroyers, and vastly outnumbered in submarines; but its allocations are being cut under fire from a mob of blind appeasers.

And last fall something new emerged in this bleak picture: Incredibly, the US Navy depended for half of its oil on foreign sources; in particular, the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean turned out to be dependent on Soviet stooges, sheiks and hostile dictators for more than half of its fuel.

When a man "goes white" with fear or anger, this is the result of a biological reflex: His face is drained of blood which is diverted to the muscles.

Oil, at present, is the lifeblood of defense. If it is short, let the airlines' champaign flights go without. Let Mr. Simon cut the fat, not the muscle.