Defense Scandal

In response to the articles “Paisley Halted Experts’ Attempt to Kill Missile,” and “Dukakis Is True Liberal Who Would Hike Taxes, Reagan Says,” Part I, June 30:

I can’t describe the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I read the two stories.

First, government scientists at China Lake lab made an honest recommendation in 1985 to scrap the Tacit Rainbow missile developed by Northrop Corp. and put it out to bid again. At $20 million per month and too many failed results this seemed justified.

As their reward, the scientists’ recommendations went in the circular file in former Assistant Navy Secretary Melvyn Paisley’s office and he saw to it that the China Lake lab group was disbanded. Paisley and Northrop are now under investigation, but can the damage done to this area of national defense and the millions added to the deficit be undone?

Then we get President Reagan’s perennial “tax and spend” attack on the Democrats. He stated that voters can choose this year to “continue in the direction of economic freedom, entrepreneurship and individual opportunity . . . and we can either have an economy that puts the private citizen at the center . . . or we can put the government at the center of the economy and let bureaucrats and politicians call the balls and strikes, decide who’s out--who’s out of work, who’s out of business--or who will get the big contract and be home free.”

No doubt Reagan’s low opinion of bureaucrats and politicians has been confirmed by his own Administration! Not all government employees are a drain on the economy: Many actually provide services for their salaries.

Reagan’s team has demonstrated that they will sell their own grandmothers for the right price.

JOAN FIELD

Santa Barbara