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It is essential that the United States maintain a military force sufficient to protect our interests and meet our commitments. Were we to do less, there would be no chance of creating a stable world structure.
But it is an illusion to think that the ideal guarantee of security for ourselves or for the world rests on our efforts alone. While maintaining our strength, therefore, we are also making a sustained effort to achieve with the Soviet Union agreement on arms limitations. Only a designed balance of armaments can ensure security that is shared and equitable, and therefore durable.
It is for that reason that we have defined our security requirements in terms that facilitate arms control agreements. The doctrine of strategic sufficiency is fully compatible with arms limitations. So too are the role of our conventional forces and the purpose of our security assistance.
Our goal is security and if others share that goal, it can be assured through mutual design, rather than mutual exertion. It will, in any event, be maintained.
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