Inside Report (1)

When's the best time to unveil a policy that affects Western Europe? When much of Western Europe is at the beach! One factor affecting the timing of the Reagan administration's recent announcement to go ahead with full production of the neutron warhead was Europe's vacation schedule. State and Defense Department officials say they were primarily concerned with efficiency on the production line. But they anticipated a storm of protest from Western Europe. They thought that this storm might be diminished in August, a month when many europeans vacation.

Says one Defense Department official: "They're all down on the Riviera right now. It's harder to get up a demonstration."m