Panel Asks Accurate, Non-Nuclear Arms

The United States should move beyond doomsday nuclear weapons and field more non-nuclear ones with pinpoint accuracy, which could be fired in regional conflicts in the Third World and elsewhere without triggering all-out war between the superpowers, an advisory commission says in a report to be given to President Reagan this week.

“Threatening a nuclear exchange that would devastate both the Soviet Union and the United States is not a reliable deterrent” to would-be aggressors in Third World hot spots, the commission contends in calling for a more diverse national arsenal.

The advisory panel’s report, obtained by the Post from sources who placed no embargo on its release, stops short of endorsing Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative specifically. But it recommends “pushing to deploy defensive (missile) systems even if their value is at first limited.”

The 13 commissioners, who include former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, also agreed there may not be enough money to pay for all the ships, aircraft and missiles the Pentagon plans to buy, forcing tough choices.

Weapons of pinpoint accuracy should be favored over “large platforms (ships, aircraft)” in future budget crunches, the report said.