KISSINGER ALLEGEDLY WITHHELD SOVIET PLAN TO VIOLATE SALT I

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980009-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: April 6, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980009-3
ARTICLE AP F FM
AN PAGE-
WASHINGTON TIMES
6 April 1984
STAT
ssmger allegedly -withheld
oue V.
S t "Ian to 10V's late SALT
By Walter Andrews
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Former White House national se-
curity adviser Henry Kissinger
suppressed and kept secret from
other officials U.S. intelligence in-
tercepts showing that the Soviet
Union intended to violate the 1972
nuclear arms agreements, in-
formed sources said yesterday.
? The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and
Co'g. ess probably would not have
supported the agreements if the
electronic intercepts of radio-
phone conversations between So-
viet leader Leonid Brezhnev and a
Russian weapons expert had been
known, the sources said.
.The May 1972 intercept of a
Brezhnev limousine telephone con-
versation showed that the Soviets
planned the development of a new
giant SS-19 nuclear 'missile, then
unknown to U.S. negotiators, and
placed a loophole in the agreements
that allowed for its deployment, the
sources'said.
The missile resulted '16 a sixfold
increase in the number of ballistic
nuclear warheads aimed at the
United States, according to the Pen-
tagon.
The existence of the intelligence
intercept has been reported, but the
claim that Mr. Kissinger knew of
the intercept beforehand had not.
Sources said he kept it secret in ap-
parent fear that it would jeopardize
congressional approval of the Salt .
I accord, of which he was the chief
architect.
A spokesman for Mr. Kissinger
said the charge was "a malicious
untruth."
Mr. Kissinger said he does not
comment on intelligence intercept
information, but added, "it is a dis-
grace that such 'accusations can
even be made 12 years after the
event"
Last week, Richard Perle, assis-
tant secretary of defense for inter-
national security policy, told Con-
gress secret intelligence had shown
the Soviets deliberately intended to
violate Salt I.
He did not elaborate on what the
secret intelligence was, or when it
became known.
Retired Adm. Elmo Zumwalt,
former chief of naval operations
and member of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, also told the Senate Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee this
information had been kept secret
from the JCS and Congress.
"I believe there was information
available to the government at the
time, but unknown to the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, that confirmed that
a violation was going to be made;'
the admiral said.
-The deployment of the SS-19 "di-
rectly violates Salt I as Salt I was
reported and explained to Congress
... during its ratification process,,-
Adm. Zumwalt, said. He declined
further comment during open sub-
committee session.
Yesterday, the admiral told The
Washington Times he had not be-
come aware of the information until
after he retired from the Navy in.
July 1974.
Asked who had withheld the in-
formation, Adm. Zumwalt would
only say "it was withheld at the
White House level." He declined to
comment further, either about the
nature of the information or who
had withheld it.
(Other informed sources said Mr.
Kissinger knew beforehand and
was the one who withheld the infor-
mation from America's highest
military officers.) -
Asked what effect this had, Adm.
Zumwalt replied: "In my judgment,
if the information had been known,
it would have significantly wors
ened the chance of approval by Con-
gress of Salt I."
The admiral noted that the SS-19
was specifically prohibited by a
unilateral statement by the United
States accompanying the Salt I
agreement.
"The JCS was assured that it (the
unilateral statement) would be
treated as part of a single entity,
and it wasn't. And the White House
knew it wasn't," Adm. Zumwalt
said.
Dr. Kissinger has previously
been reported as having been sur.
prised by the SS-19, and as consid
ering it evidence of Soviet "sharp
practice" as far as keeping to the
terms of the agreements.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980009-3