Response to President Bush's Budget Proposals

I'm greatly disappointed and surprised that President Bush is not recommending greater cuts in the defense budget.

Due to the Department of Defense's significant lead time for threat analysis, definition of requirements, and procurement, all the systems that are now in development or production were intended to counter the threat posed by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations in the mid 1980s. Needless to say, that threat either is dissolved completely or has been so emasculated as to merit a new Marshall Plan rather than new weapons systems.

Since the president is unwilling to call the hogs away from the trough, it is up to the American people to take the initiative and petition Congress to downsize our military establishment to a level commensurate with our present needs.

Whether these savings are channeled to a "peace dividend," health care, education or other government programs is secondary to the military reality of January 1992. And that reality dictates an immediate additional reduction in our defense budget far in excess of the president's token 3 percent. Elizabeth Perron, Andover, Mass.

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