‘Star Wars’ Receives Top Priority Among Defense Dept. Programs

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, in his latest long-range planning directive to the military, has raised President Reagan’s “Star Wars” initiative to the “highest priority” among Pentagon programs, officials said Wednesday.

The so-called Defense Guidance issued by Weinberger is a secret document. But several of Weinberger’s top deputies, including Under Secretary of Defense Fred C. Ikle, confirmed details of the directive.

The Pentagon’s willingness to talk about the directive apparently was an effort to re-emphasize Reagan’s commitment to the “Star Wars” space-based anti-missile defense system in the face of Soviet demands that the program be scrapped.

The disclosure came just two weeks after Reagan exercised his authority under the new balanced-budget law to protect the “Star Wars” program from any cuts during the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

The guidance is the basic document used by the military services in devising their long-range programs. The guidance signed by Weinberger on Dec. 31, for example, is to guide military budgets over the five-year period beginning in fiscal 1988.

Sophisticated Weaponry

The “Star Wars” program, known formally as the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, calls for the development of sophisticated weapons that could automatically shoot down incoming Soviet nuclear missiles. The program will receive $2.75 billion in the current budget year, fiscal 1986.

Since Weinberger issued his first Defense Guidance in 1981, the top priority has been assigned to what is known as strategic modernization--the production of modern nuclear weapons such as the MX missile and the B-1 bomber.

The latest guidance document, signed on Dec. 31, maintains that emphasis but then adds SDI at the same level.

“The highest priority is assigned to the President’s strategic force modernization program. . . . SDI shares this priority,” the document states.

In the last guidance document, which was issued in April, 1985, Weinberger wrote that the Pentagon would “actively pursue” an intensive “Star Wars” research program. That document, however, did not rank “Star Wars” among the Pentagon’s top priorities.