To the Editor:
The debate on revising the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty (editorial, Oct. 21) has been dominated by politicians and militaryofficers, while technical experts who can explain the difference between a total and a limited ABM defense have been ignored. It is not the first time.A memorandum addressed by Andrei D. Sakharov to the Communist Party Central Committee in 1967 argued that the moratorium proposed by the UnitedStates on antiballistic-missile defense would benefit the Soviet Union as well as the United States. He suggested that an exception might be made to permit limited ABM defenses sufficient to guard against one or several missiles fired by an outlaw regime.The Central Committee refused Sakharov's attempt to initiate a public discussion of the issue. In 1968 he published in the West his essay"Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom", in which he again urged"a moratorium on the construction of antimissile systems." In June 1968 Moscow agreed to begin negotiations on an ABM treaty. Although no evidence has appeared that the essay was instrumental in this decision, Sakharovbelieved that discussion by technical experts can influence policy.Now, a serious debate about the benefits and risks of amending the ABM treaty to permit a limited ABM defense would be timely. I urgephysicists specializing in disarmament to engage in a nonpolemical exchange of views.ELENA BONNER
Brookline, Mass., Oct. 22, 1999
The writer is the widow of Andrei D. Sakharov.