The Backfire has been the subject of dispute in U.S.-Soviet arms negotiations since the mid-1970s. Helms’s letter asserts that the Defense Intelligence Agency has “recently increased its estimate of the Backfire’s range, due to the defector’s new evidence.” (The ;defector worked on a Backfire base during his military service.) DIA has now concluded that it should be counted as a strategic intercontinentalrange aircraft under START. Helms’s letter also charges a CIA “cover-up” of evidence that the Soviets have used the Backfire as the platform to test long-range, air-launched cruise missiles.
Helms, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, which will hold hearings on the treaty, plans to raise these issues in a Senate speech this week. “The ratification debate on START is going to be a lot harder than Bush and Baker seem to realize,” says a top Senate aide.
