4 SENATORS CHALLENGE PRESIDENT ON SALT II

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980076-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 76
• Publication Date: July 12, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980076-9
STAT
ARTICLE AP'PLIRED
ON PAGE
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
12 JULY 1982
Senators challenge;
.4
i
president on
SALF
By Jeffrey St. John i
WAS$INGTON TIMES STAFF
Senate and House supporters of President
Reagan plan to stage a bruising political battle
in Congress this week in an effort to block a
White House initiative to secure what they
call a de facto ratification of the SALT II
-treaty.
Four senators, all supporters of Reagan,
sent the president a 21/rpage letter on June
27 warning him of the political, strategic
and constitutional consequenes of his sup-
port for the proposal.
The administration strongly backs a joint
resolution passed by the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee on June 9, pledging the
United States "to refrain from actions which
would undercut the . SALT I and SALT II
agreements provided the Soviet Union shows
equal restraint:'
The Senate will be asked'-this week to
approve the Joint resolution by a simple
majority rather than two-thirds, or 67, votes.
A copy of the letter to Reagan from Sens.
Jesse Helms, John East, Robert Kasten and
Steven Symms, obtained by The Washington
Times, implies that the president's backing
of the joint resolution amounts to surrender
to Soviet nuclear blackmail.
The letter contends "the Soviets have not
been showing restraint. according to the
Defense Department threat assessments:'
The four Senate supporters of the president
in most other areas also charge Reagan unwit-
tingly is giving his support by "de facto"
ratifiacation of SALT II in defiance of the
Constitution's treaty-making powers provis-
ion
..The resolution." the letter adds. "would
improperly involve the House of Represent-
atives in the inactment and de facto ratifica-
tion of the SALT II Treaty. A simple majority
of the House is all that would be required to
pass the resolution. Finally the executive
branch's lobbying efforts in support of this
resolution in circumvention of the treaty-
making powers challenges the separation of
powers concept in the U.S Constitution. Thus
the resolution supported by your adminis.
tration raises profound constitutional
questions.'
Senate and House opponents of the joint
resolution can be expected to cite "fresh and
new" violations of SALT II by the Soviets
uncovered by the Defense Department and
the National Security Agency.
The Times has learned that Rav McCrory,
recently fired CIA arms control specialist,
Reagan statements
on SALT II Treaty,
"I believe the SALT II Treaty should be
withdrawn."
May 1980
"SALT II is not strategic arms limita-
tion, it is strategic arms buildup with the
Soviets adding a minimum of 3,000 nuclear
wgrheads to their inventory...
"I believe the Senate should declare that
this treaty, fatally flawed as it is, be shelved
and the negotiators go back to the table
and come up with a treaty which fairly
and genuinely reduces the number of stra-
tegic nuclear weapons:'
Sept. 17,1979
"I cannot...agree to any treaty, including
the SALT II treaty, which, in effect, legit-
irnizes the continuation of a one-sided arms
buildup:'
c Aug. 18, 1980
"I think it's a fatally flawed treaty. and .
it isn't arms limitation"
Oct.2,1980
"There's no belief on my part that the
traty, as it is, could ever be signed by us:'
Aug. S, 1981
"As for existing strategic arms agree-
ments, we will refrain from actions that
undercut them so long as the Soviet Union
shows equal restraint:'
May 31,1982
According to McCrory, the Soviets have
"de loved operationally" in recent months
their mobile SS-1 s at t o Plesetsk
test range with numbers ranging rom 180 to.
200. the CIA is rgported to have counted on y
.80 to 90S_i?JD,spjtg~kie disagzestaent
over numberc_, however the oeeXational
deploy mcnt oLth S$-16s would r_onstitute a
violation of the S&1-TJI_Mr_ealx
The four Republican senators in their June
27 letter to Reagan also maintain de facto
ratification of SALT II by a joint resolution
of Congress would mean that the United States
would abide by the provisions of the agree
ment while the Kremlin has publicly stated
it would not. "The Soviets would thus have
all the benefits of U.S. compliance with SALT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980076-9