"Paul F Austin" wrote in message
. ..
False reporting gave the Soviets (and western intel
shops) wildly optimistic views of Soviet readiness states that started to
evaporate in Afghanistan.

And of course once the truth was known, the Reagan-era pentagon was still
spinning the story for the public and congress of the growing Soviet threat
and how that were building a blue-water navy, so we needed a 600 ship navy
to counter.

Source: "Fall from Glory: The men who sank the U.S. Navy" by Gregory L.
Vistica (1996)