This issue of Dædalus devoted to the problems of arms limitation attempts to provide some of the basic information and understanding needed for an intelligent public discussion of the disarmament problem. To a distressing degree American citizens, who normally insist on free and open discussion of important issues facing their country, have turned away from the problems of arms control as being of such complexity and requiring access to so much secret military and political information as (supposedly) to be beyond the comprehension of the ordinary citizen. But, without a widespread understanding of the options available to the nation and without some ability on the part of the general public to judge the relative security of various alternatives, it will not be possible for the United States to find acceptable arms-limitation agreements or to accept the constraints such agreements will impose on the military activities of the country.
