COOLING THE CRUSADE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280131-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2007
• Sequence Number: 131
• Publication Date: January 14, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/12/19: CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280131-2
Stephen S. Rosenfeld
Cooling e Crusade
The budget debate is not, least a for?
et- policy debate, and it is a more im? this . Reagan campaigned against
a~unnption' saying in effect that the
pcnt one than the fight over MX or this
AWACS i or Soviet Union is not a normally pushy
along in the ythutg else that's come member of the Rfamiliar state system but
nitcance is the Reagan preside ny. Its sig. a uniquely dangerous maverick dedi.
opportunity it affords ated
' that system and
Reagan to get in doser touch with theto diating
teal "rid. ~ihowthis tutLin its own egemony. lk'hether
In his formal statements, Reagan a assertion is true is a fair
put forward the right idea when he question. It seems . to me beyond ques.
tio~ entered the White House. He said the would however, that fewer Americans
first foundation of a strong foreign today than it a basis for pular, ago policy is a strong economy. But then he ? years
c s T popular,
proceeded, with help from Congress, to pp arty and ureauaau support for the ideoJopcal dribble away his opening. Others, in to the White O~~ has coHouseh s Reagan brought
his administration and in Congress, are The two big So iet?Arnerican missile
trying now to recoup and hoping he negotiations, L'\*F and START, offer the
will at least not block the may. right occasion for adjustment-on both
Some success in economic recovery is sides The numbers can be ' ggled. 141 hat
long way off, if it comes at all Just the matters more is that the a oat
appearance of an America attempting to state a position that reflects a ~-mo strateeioc
correct course, however-notwithstand. 1 . gic
irg that correction entails defense reduc- fair. and
athat reasonable n has seemed as people regard as
tiom-is on balance a tonic for Amer- ally flawless age -nestto want a is
Iran foreign policy. Politically, it' -one that in.
the United Stacey is suggests vulnerable to the sort of attack he di-
competent to play rected at SALT II and that erases what
the leadership role that practically all he and, now, not too many others believe
nations, including adversaries, want and to be an American
power
expect us to play. Economically, Amer. be better to regard an agraeficit. It would
eement an
ken recovery is the rising tide that lifts imperfect trarait onal arrangement main.
almost all other boats. taining misting
That improvement in the economy-_
low~g an rough parity but
the world economy-would simplify the As it }~ levy of mutugi rlok and a us w
has tasks before American foreign policy been struck at the conten onn-that the
goes virtually without saying. Some peo. Soviet Union is an economic basket case
pie worry, however, that improvement and can no
longer
would merely put in the president's com titio y w keep pace in a= hich hands the means for carrying out a ques- lion has justified its stmtm~-
tionable policy more energetically than capproac The Soviet economy w
he has been able to do so far. economy has slowed down
I doubt it. markedh', but it won't cotlat and it 1ATatever Reagan's Mn ~s every sign of conttrt
proclivities, which should not he taken for a_t utn~ 4
an altered b
a+a nce Of political forces
s bOut the
it trie
ington, The
r
ti
p
agma
that have
c elements should be been working on ec
otxw ~
i
onom
c
policy will, if they succeed, have a more vs~ a eowedul boost to
influential hand on forei the cause of moderation
On the domestic gn pas on olicy, the for. Even Yuri Andropov has a ~Y
ei O and even among se contribution, The new Kremlin leader
elm, and tho
sometimes has generated in Washington a sense of
are r d enotigh as as docttia R~anites, there renewed Soviet diplomatic ativisrti.
people to make a, dNifference George t Thus he has given valuable ammunition
- try-makers who feel that rather
Shultz. who bestrides both policy realms,
is the key man. though he could not Pce hanging tough tndefinhteh, and
waiting for Moscow to falter, the Ltnited
sihly act without the implicit and ex- States should be moving
elicit partnership of others in the execu. deliberate out with all
tik-F branch and in Co speed, meeting the Soviet
'mere is a hiddenna:;rrnptinn here: o competition and trying to make the
that the pragmatic %-ay i., better than a that its stre.~t warrants and its
rcouires
Approved For Release 2007/12/19: CIA-RDP85M00364R002204280131-2
WASHiN GTCN PCS't
14 JANUAPY 1983