This is a really old question. Even in the 1980s, some people were saying that standard estimates of Soviet capability were greatly exaggerated, and that we wer

This is a really old question. Even in the 1980s, some people were saying that standard estimates of Soviet capability were greatly exaggerated, and that we were overestimating how strong NATO needed to be. Since the fall of the USSR, we have learned a lot about Soviet plans and capabilities, but that hasn't really resolved the dispute. On the one hand, Soviet military capabilities really were worse than we thought. On the other had, they really did have plans for invading westward. Maybe it was a massive case of wishful thinking on their part.