The Nation - News from Oct. 9, 1985

President Reagan’s big increases in defense spending have resulted in a “lack of marked improvement” in most measurable standards of U.S. military capability, the Congressional Budget Office said. Although American defenses are somewhat better than they were when Reagan took office five years ago, most areas of the military have not improved in keeping with the vast new sums of money poured into them, Rudolph G. Penner, director of the budget office, told the House Armed Services Committee. At the Pentagon, spokesman Robert B. Sims suggested that some who question readiness do a disservice to Congress and the armed forces.