A panel of the National Academy of Sciences recommended Thursday that in the next round of superpower arms talks the United States and Soviet Union seek to at least halve the number of warheads permitted under a new pact.

In a report describing the yet-to-be-ratified Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, START, as the foundation for a new era in U.S.-Soviet security cooperation, the scientists said that regardless of the outcome of the current restructuring of the Soviet political system it is in the best interests of both nations to dramatically lower the size of their nuclear arsenals.Both countries also would benefit from strengthening internal controls and safeguards over their nuclear forces, said the report.

Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky, chairman of the panel that wrote the report, described START as "a great achievement, the first agreement of the nuclear age that calls for an actual reduction in long-range strategic nuclear weapons." And, he said, it establishes a framework for future reductions without protracted negotiations.

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Panofsky, professor and director emeritus of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Stanford, Calif., said both superpowers could be more secure with fewer, more survivable forces under strengthened command and control.

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