ADVISERS PRESSURING PRESIDENT TO FORGET ABOUT SALT II RULES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330077-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 77
• Publication Date: May 30, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330077-0
ARTd"~c r " =ABED
WASHINGTON TIMES
30 May 1985
Advisers pressuring president
about SALT II rules
to forget
I., Burt, State Department Politico-
l
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Senior U.S. advisers are recom-
mending that President Reagan pur-
sue strategic weapons programs
without regard to compliance with
the unratified SALT II treaty limita-
tions, administration sources said
yesterday.
President Reagan will decide by
the beginning of next week whether
the United States will comply with
nuclear weapons limits set by the
treaty, the sources said.
All the options presently being
formulated by middle-level officials
for a decision by the president and
his Cabinet-level advisers call for
some degree of SALT II violations,
according to the sources. They cau-
tion, however, that the debate is con-
tinuing and the final decision rests
- with the president himself.
The debate, which Capitol Hill
conservatives regard as a "fight for
the heart and soul" of the Reagan
administration, is expected to reach
its peak Tuesday when the pres-
idential decision is made public.
White House spokesman Larry
Speakes said yesterday that the
president "is in the process of
reviewing" U.S. options regarding
SALT II compliance.
He said no decision has been
made because the for the sec-
ond been busy preparing
and round of U.S.-Soviet arms con-
trol talks, which starts today in
Geneva.
Under the terms of an
amendment to the fiscal 1985
Defense Authorization bill, the pres-
ident has until June 1 to report to
Congress on U.S. Policy toward
SALT II compliance.
But Mr. Speakes said the report to
Congress might not include Mr. Rea-
gan's decision on the issue.
"Whether or not he tells them
[Congress] what we're going to do
when SALT II expires and whether
he tells them he is reviewing a num-
ber of options and outlines those
options remains to be seen," Mr.
Speakes said.
The options under consideration
lead the United States to vio
ate t e Military Affairs Director John
SALT, agreement in response to Chain, National Security Adviser
Soviet violations, government Robert McFarlane and Chief Arms
sources said. Control Adviser Paul Nitze, will pre-
in a position of not responding to
Soviet violations," said one official
familiar with the arms control
issues.
However, the sources cautioned
that these options have been pre-
sented by "middle-level" officials,
and none of the "principals" who will
participate in a White House
National Security Council meeting
next week have yet weighed in with
their recommendations.
Secretary of State George Shultz
and Defense Secretary Caspar Wein-
berger were among those principals
who have not yet given their views to
President Reagan for his decision.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff also have
not presented their position, an offi-
cial said.
One official-said that almost all of
the options being discussed "one
way or the other would involve tech-
nical violations" of the Salt II
agreement.
The amendment requires the
president to report on four SALT-
related topics. He must notify Con-
gress of the effect of the U.S.S.
Alaska sea trials on current "no
undercut" policy on strategic arms.
The administration will face its
first challenge to the SALT II limits
this August when the U.S.S. Alaska
begins sea trials. By launching the
Alaska, the U.S. will go over the 1,200
threshhold for submarine-launched
ballistic missiles set by SALT II.
The president's report also must
assess the Soviet political, military
and negotiating reponses to a
decision to abandon the SALT II
restraints and must review Soviet
activities with respect to arms con-
trol agreements.
Finally, the report must "make
recommendations regarding the
future of U.S. strategic offensive
arms agreement."
Administration sources said
senior arms control advisers are
scheduled to meet this Friday to dis-
cuss the decision on SALT.
The senior advisers, Assistant
Secretary of Defense Richard Perle,
Assistant Secretary of State Richard
pare policy recommendations for
the National Security Council.
The final decision on whether the
U.S. will comply with the restraints
of the 1979 unratified treaty is
expected following a National Secu-
rity Council meeting on Monday.
On Capitol Hill, treaty compliance
proponents and opponents have pre-
pared amendments on the SALT
issue intended for this year's
Defense Department authorization
bill.
Proponents, lead by Sens. Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt. and Dale Bumpers,
D-Ark., favor a one-year extension of
the SALT provisions, which they
hope to tack on to the Defense bill.
SALT critics have prepared a
counter-amendment that would pro-
hibit the Pentagon from using any
funds to dismantle weapons systems
in order to comply with the SALT
treaty.
That amendment, co-sponsored
by Steve Symms, R-Idaho, and
Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., is expected
to be the subject of heated Senate
debate when it is brought before
Congress late next week.
In a "Dear Collegue" letter sent
out last week the two senators urged
Congress to "save the Poseidons."
Under a SALT compliance decision,
one U.S. option would be to deacti-
vate 10 Poseidon nuclear missile
submarines that would diminish the
number of U.S. strategic warheads
by 1,600. -
A recent classified CIA study of
SALT Compliance round tat is-
mantling the Poseidons would give j
the Soviet Union a si i icant lead in
the number of nuclear warheads in
its arsenal, a key indicator of strate-
gic nuclear strength and an essential
element of balance in the deterrent
strategy.
Sen. Hollings' support for the
amendment is regarded as a key
indicator of bi-partisan support for
abandoning the SALT II limits. He
also voted against the SALT I treaty
in 1972.
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2.
Sen. Hollings told the Senate last
week that SALT was never ratified
because "it was not in the security
interests of the United States."
"Simply stated, we have a treaty
violator on our hands;" Mr. Hollings
said of Soviet SALT violations, 11 of
which have been documented by the
administration. "It is not a close call;
it is a categorical call made by a
bipartisan group;' he said referring
to the Presidential General Advi-
sory Committee on Arms Control
report on Soviet violations.
"If the president agrees to con-
tinue abiding by SALT II, con-
servatives in the Senate will accuse
the adminstration of appeasing the
Soviets, in the same way Scoop Jack-
son accused the Carter administra-
tion of appeasement in 1979;' one
Senate aide said. The late Senator
Henry M. Jackson was a key Demo-
cratic opponent of SALT II who
helped defeat Carter administration
efforts to have the Senate ratify the
treaty.
"The fight [over SALT II compli-
ance] is a battle for the heart and
soul of the second Reagan term;' the
aide said.
SALT critics point to President
Reagan's statements opposing the
treaty. Last May 10 in Europe, the
president called the agreement
"rather one-sided" and said as a
result "there's no need for us to con-
tinue" the treaty.
Walter Andrews and Mary Bel-
cher contributed to this report.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330077-0