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Strategic forces, both offensive and defensive, are the backbone of our security.
They are the primary deterrent to strategic attacks against us or our allies.
They face an aggressor contemplating less than all-out attacks, with an unacceptable risk of escalation.
They are essential to the maintenance of a stable political environment within which the threat of aggression or coercion against the U.S. and its allies is minimized.
Our strategic forces must be numerous enough, efficient enough and deployed in such a way that an aggressor will always know that the sure result of a nuclear attack against us is unacceptable damage from our retaliation. That makes it imperative that our strategic power not be inferior to that of any other state. Thus I am committed to my pledge to keep our strategic forces strong. I am equally committed to seeking a stable strategic relationship with the Soviet Union through negotiations. There is no inconsistency between those goals; they are in fact complementary.
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