In fact, Mr. Dukakis has not only called for strengthened conventional forces but also for necessary measures of nuclear modernization.

The president's top advisers concluded that China's nuclear modernization is inevitable and that they might as well gain advantage by acquiescing in it.

True, Moscow's nuclear modernization continues.

"The question of nuclear modernization makes us laugh," one official said.

There is the sense that West Germany is holding up nuclear modernization in Europe, that disarmament might shoulder aside the demands of a credible defense.

The statement was prompted by an article on Sunday in The New York Times, quoting senior administration officials who said they would not object to China's nuclear modernization.

Even so, Obama will probably have to do some compromising on "nuclear modernization" and similar conservative security-policy fetishes to get the handful of Republican votes he needs.

It assumes that the Kremlin will neither be willing nor able to continue its aggressive nuclear modernization.

The slowdown in Soviet nuclear modernization provides an even more compelling opportunity for savings.