Washington ; Senator Strum Thurmond , Democrat , South Carolina , holding a model of a Jupiter rocket as he poses in his office . The Pentagon took issue with information about the Soviet build - up in Cuba given out by Thurmond , announcing that estimates of Russian strength based on official intelligence are at " wide variance " with figures issued by Thurmond . The Defence Department reported that the Russians are believed to have close to 600 anti - aircraft misslies , 400 tanks and 2, 000 artillery pieces on the island . 4 February 1963