l condemned the Soviet Union for being a police state and for building an "iron curtain" in Eastern Europe. Another problem arose regarding the issue of post-war Germany. Although the United States favored a unified, demilitarized state, Soviet efforts to exploit labor and resources in East Germany caused the United States to establish its own zone of influence in the West. Yet another international issue contributing to the start of the Cold War was control of atomic weapons. The United States and the Soviet Union failed to agree on this critical issue, despite the creation of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission in 1946. Tensions over atomic power were heightened in the late 1940s when the Soviet Union developed its own atomic bomb.
U.S. leaders became even more concerned with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, when the latter launched the first space satellite, the Sputnik. This satellite was seen by U.S. intelligence as a sign of advancing Soviet military technology (Kaplan 124). Tensions in U.S.-Soviet relations were further heightened in the 1960s as the two nations became engaged in a "race" for nuclear arms. The combined threat of Soviet expanionism and nuclear proliferation led the United States to develop a Cold War strategy based on the principle of deterrence. The importance of this principle was emphasized in the 1950 report to the National Security Council known as NSC-68. Drafted by Paul Nitze, a member of the Secretary of State's staff, NSC-68 expressed concern over the Soviet threat and recommended a new policy
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