LETTER TO RONALD REAGAN FROM JAMES A. MCCLURE, MALCOLM WALLOP, STEVE SYMMS

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CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6
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RIPPUB
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K
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8
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December 22, 2016
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April 12, 2010
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2
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Publication Date: 
December 10, 1985
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LETTER
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6 t~ lnr~ ER 85-4937 Office of Legislative Liaison Routing Slip ACTION INFO 1. D/OLL x 2. DD/OLL X 3. Admin Officer 4. Liaison 5. Le islation x X X 9. 10. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT ROUTING SLIP Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 OR f i l l 0,-.,,,51 I 1-:X: : _ 71777777 United states ecor~~= 493" 185- 4937 " H ecor: a December 10, 1985 The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: The fundamental-issue affecting American national security is whether the United States should continue.to comply with the unequal, unratified SALT II Treaty, or finally allow this still proposed Treaty to expire on December 31, 1985, under its.own terms. Your decisive personal leadership is required on this issue.- Your own position opposing the "fatally flawed" SALT -I-I Treaty was made-quite clear-during-the 1980 Presidential-: campaign. As the attached annex indicates, we'have just - -- learned that you sought the withdrawal of---the -proposed SALT II Treaty at a National Security Council meeting on May-.21, 1981 but that the State Department worked to maintain the - existing Carter Administration - "interim restraint, - no-undercut" policy of complying with-SALT I-I.---In-June, 1982, the State Department's defiance of your request went even further, and the State Department reportedly converted SALT II into an even more unequal arrangement tantamount to a secret Executi-ve Agreement. This action also defied the Jackson Amendment requirement for equality, as well as the Constitution and the Arms Control and-Disarmament Act. Now we have learned from news reports of a briefing by Secretary of State George--Shultz that the State Department-has gone-- still further,. and --has- agreed with-the-Soviets---to-extend indefinitely--this-unratified Treaty even--.after it: expires.-- We agree with your long-standing-statements and_with_the_.__ report of the--Senate Armed Services.=Committee that- U.S:-SALT II compliance -has--not---been in the--national- security interest of the United States.--- Continued U-.-S. -SALT- II compliance will require the UP=S. to-destroy 2,500=more warheads on highly-- survivable Poseidon'- submarines. -_-Such massive. U.S.--unilateral _ disarmament under- SALT II -will- seriously.- undercut all Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6 remaining military, economic, and political arguments for your own SDI and Strategic Modernization Program. We therefore request that you advise us as to whether you will allow SALT II to expire on December 31, 1985. Very respectfully, Annex: Analysis of-:-the=:Constitutional - Status and Hilitary Effects of the SALT II Treaty Copies to: ----"Secretary -of--Defense Secretary -of--.State-- Chairman, JCS Director, CIA Director, ACDA Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 ANNEX: Analysis of the Constitution Status and Military Effects of the SALT II Treaty The fundamental issue affecting American national security is whether the U.S. should continue to comply with the unequal, unratified SALT II Treaty, or finally allow this still proposed Treaty- to expire on December 31,- 1985 under - its own terms. Your decisive personal leadership is required on this issue. Your -SALT II Position . Your own position on the proposed SALT II Treaty was made quite clear during the 1980 Presidential campaign. You repeatedly stated that SALT II was "fatally flawed." You also stated on October 30, 1980 that "SALT II is illegal... because we're not eoual in this Treaty." You even stated in May 1980 that "I believe-the SALT II Treaty should be withdrawn, and I especially believe---the. --U.S. should not abide by- its-. . terms prior to ratification:---_To_-abide by--the-terms of, the proposed ---agreement--would--violate artic-le-- 33- of=the Arms Control and-Disarmament Act of 1961-"--- The Senate Armed. Services Committee. agreed with= you-when =it---- determined --in December, -- 1979 - that- the -.proposed SALT IL-Treaty is unequal, unbalanced-,---destabilizing,-- and-- "not-in-the- national security interest of the United States-." -- - Former President Jimmy Carter even characterized the 1980 Presidential Election as a "national referendum" on his proposed SALT II Treaty, but he lost. Burt's Insubordination Accordingly,---we--obviously-- expected=-:that- one=-of your.-- first acts as =Presi-dent=would - have--been= toy-withdraw the------- proposed proposed SALT --II.-Treaty---from- the-=Senate.- 1"Te.-are pleased. to learn now that=-early'" n--your-- Admiii_st-r.ation=-you indeed- _= -: --:-_ -- ordered this -done-, --but you.-:were-=thwart-ed-by---State=Department- appeasement- -The--Washington imes:_(.Novembe-r_ 15-, -1985)- reports excerpts- fr-om--a=-July :16, -1981-secret--memorandum -from----,-- Richard Bur-, -=then ..Dir-ector:.of-_-.Politico-Military affairs -at,.---- the State Department,-- to- then--Secretary: of---State-:Haig.=: --Burt wrote:- -: =--=_ "As you tol-d_ me_ following- the -May-.21 -, =198-1 --National- Security Council-Meeting; the-,President- stated-a -.-- preference for withdrawing the SALT II Treaty, and-.-when and how to-do.-so was--briefly-discussed there and, subsequently, in- the -interagency meeting:" Burt then insubord-inatel.y -added:- --- "My own preference would-be to avoid withdrawing the SALT II Treaty-from the Senate."-- - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 Richard Burt went on to outline to Secretary Haig a detailed plot to countermand what he again acknowledged to be your own "Presidential preference." Burt's plot succeeded, and your own clearly expressed "Presidential preference" for withdrawing the proposed SALT II Treaty from the Senate was thwarted. In place of your own clearly expressed order, the State Department substituted the existing Carter. - "no-undercut, interim restraint" policy of U.S. compliance with the unratified SALT II Treaty. But you stated -in May, - 1980 that the existing Carter. interim restraint policy defied the Treaty-making powers of the. Senate and Section 33 of the ACDA Act. The SALT II Secret Agreement More significantly, in June, 1982, 'the State Department went further, and even secretly "agreed" with the Soviets that their forces could be "capped" at their falsely claimed higher, June 1979 level of 2;504 Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles, wit-hout-,- however, the U. S. baying the right- to the same number. -_--T-his- State Department =concessionary,-.secret-- agreement conver-ted the SALT II--.Treat-y into an- even- mor-e- --. unequal agreement than= before. - This- explicit -U.S.=-agreement to unequal levers- also was- inconsistent with--the 1972 Jackson- -_--- Amendment to--SALT=-I, -requiring equal -levels of forces i-n SALT- II, and because it secretly constrained U.S. forces-by - Executive Agreement- alone;--it-..also-- was inconsistent- with the- Treaty-making- power-of -the -Constitution --and--contr-ary.-to._ _. - - Section 33 of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act. Finally, because the secret-agreement was not-conveyed to Congress, the action was a blatant violation of the reporting requirements of the Case Act. As we have -already_informed . you repeatedly, we will - resolutely pursue -Constitutional, - legal;- and -legislative - - -- - remedies against-_-the=---State- Department--i-f--U-.S.--compliance--with--- the unequal.,- unr-atif-ied -SAL-T'=-3I--1reaty extends--past_=its_ expiration -on-_31--December1985.------- = _= SALT II Extension Mr. President, -we--the-refore read .with- alarm the--:--- following from.- t-he_lead story-_--of -The- New York Times-.o-n - November 23;=--1985-: "A senior State-Department official said today that the.- United States-had told the Soviet Union before the--, - - Geneva Summit meeting-that- it-.would indefinitely :. continue its-policy=-of= not-undermining. the 1979 [SALT II]- arms-- treaty.-:.f ? _ _ --- - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12: CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 The Washington Post of November 27, 1985 quotes you as saying that you did discuss SALT II personally with Gorbachev, but that you "made it plain" to the Soviets "that we certainly were no going to bind ourselves to something that was not equally binding on them." The point is, however, that the State Department has illegally bound the U.S. for six years already. Now the State Department's early-November, 1985-Moscow=-- commitment to indefinitely extend the unratified SALT II Treaty defies your own preferences, the 32 plus-confirmed Soviet SALT violations, the treaty-making powers of the _. Senate, and the-national security interests of the country. It is dangerous enough that the U.S. has-illegal-ly compl-ied- with an unratified, unequal, proposed treaty for six years almost to its expiration, and even after the State Department secretly converted it into an even more unequal and illegal. Executive Agreement. But to indefinitely extend this unratified,-proposed treaty is both irresponsible and a usurpation of power by the State Department. It is also extremely dangerous to--American national security, and a-s such constitutes -U-.S. -appeasement-and--unilateral disarmament-.-- Mr. President,. you -have already--confirmed --1 1-- Sov i-et = - : - violations of. SALT-II. to -the -Congress, and several=-more have recently- been--reported. -You---have already- confirmed-a total-- of 32 Soviet SALT--Break Ou-t-'violatio.ns -to Congress.. We- respectfully- remind-.:you that. during -your-May--_1985 trip to Europe you correctly stated-:-- -- - --- "There is considerable evidence now that compliance with SALT II has been rather one-sided, and if it has been, there is no need for us to continue." Moreover, on March -27,=-1984-, you al-so-correctly stated:- "We had two--treaties--the=SALT -treat ies-=the-=SAL-T__Treaty- I and SALT Treaty7.3I. --And - SALT- Treaty--11.- was- not ratified by=-the- Senate, I m--pleased --to -say =-=No---one. has:-=-- paid any attention- to -the fact. that-under 'those- two- - treaties-=the.:Sov-iet=Union-:-under--SALT =I,_==from==that--time: on added 7,950-nuclear warhead s=to--.ts-arsenal,-and- 3,850 of those=-were- added since:- after--- everyone-.signed:- - - SALT -II;" Defense Secretary-.Aleinberger agreed,: when-he_stated=on December 20,-1984:- - "The Soviet -Union has built more -of-the big nuclear - warheads capabl-a-==of -destroying -U. S. -missiles -.in-- their--. concrete silos than-we-initially-predicted they would - build, even without-any SALT agreement. We now confront Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87M01152R000400500002-6 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6 precisely the situation that the SALT process was intended to prevent." Danger of SALT II The Soviet Union has built up its strategic forces - during the period of-the 1979 SALT II Treaty through the end of 1985 to a level much higher that the Joint Chiefs of Staff predicted in 1978 that the Soviet Union would have by the end- of 1985, even if no SALT II Treaty had been signed. This is- because Soviet Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles have - increased by-about one fourth, and Soviet strategic nuclear warheads have more than tripled by the end of 1985. In contrast, the U.S. has-strategic forces-by-the end of 1985 even lower than the JCS predicted in 1978 that the U.S. would have by the end of 1985, even within SALT II constraints. Let SALT II Expire- Your 1984 and_.1985-SALT II statements suggest that you. still believe in your.- clearly- expressed May -21, 1981= -- "Presidential -preference"-- to- withdraw- the'SALT II -Treaty= from =. the Senate,..-as-you repeatedly promised during the 1980_ campaign. We-urge you=-now--to finally over-rule _ consistent insubord-inate appeasement-efforts- by the State. Department to -thwart your- long stand ing---prefer-ences- and-- - -- - -- promises, and-even-to- thwart=--the Const-itution, -.and:-allow the proposed SAL-T II-Treaty-to-expire under its own-terms on--. . December 31, 1985. You already--have strong Senate support for this action, because on June 20, 1984, 99 Senators voted on a roll call vote to approve a Symms amendment reaffirming the fundamental principle of international law that if the Soviets are violating SALT II, the U.S. should not be bound by it. Moreover, on November- 1 , 983, --.more - than one.--third of_=;.-=- the Senate =present v-oted to oppose- SALT. II,_.: on a- .roll call.- vote on another .Symms-=amendment -~= In sum, the- Defense- Department bas--- reported- =that-- if - .the-- U. S. continues to--comply- with -.SALT- II-; _ -this-will- require the- -- U. S. to 'destroy--2.,500=more -warheads on--highly,- surv-ivable Poseidon submarines. :-Suc-h-massive =-U.S.--unilateral disarmament-=.under- SALT -II= wi13=.-comple-tely--under-cut-ali._---_-- remaining-military-,-economics and=. political arguments- for---.,- your own SDI- and Strategic--Modernization Program.--: =. - W'e request that-,you--advise us as-to-whethe.r you-will allow SALT --II to, expire: on -December . -31 , = 1985. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/04/12 : CIA-RDP87MO1152R000400500002-6