§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's current assessment of Soviet military doctrine.
§ Mr. StanleyCertain basic principles can be inferred from Soviet military writings and exercises. There is emphasis on the importance of military power, the primacy of the offensive, the decisive role of nuclear weapons, the comprehensive nature of modern warfare involving the use of all types of weapons (conventional, nuclear and chemical) and all branches of the services in varying combinations, and the Soviet Union's overriding need to seize and maintain the initiative and emerge from a war in a better condition than its adversaries.