DEFENSE DEPT. IS REBUFFED ON SOVIET ABM THREAT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302430006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: March 5, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/2 1 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302430006-7
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EW YORK TIMES
5 March 1987
Defense Dept. Is Rebuffed on Soviet
ABM Threat
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
special to The New Yort Times
WASHINGTON, March 4 ? The
White House has rebuffed a Pentagon
suggestion that the United States for-
mally assert that the Soviet Union is
preparing a nationwide ABM defense,
'Administration officials said today.
Under the Antiballistic Missile
!Treaty of 1972, the two sides agreed to
limit their ABM systems so that they
could not become the basis for a nation-
wide antimissile defense.
Defense Department officials had
proposed that the United States now
find the Soviet Union to be moving to-
ward such an defense and that this be
noted in the annual report on Soviet ad-
herence to arms treaties. To support
its case, the Pentagon cited the start of
construction of three new radars on the
western periphery of the Soviet Union,
among other actions.
Cautious Assessment Is Due
Experts at the Central Intelligence ,
Agency ad the State Department con-
tested the Pentagon assessment.
Officials said the annual report,
which is expected to be made public
1 shortly, would offer a more cautious
assessment. The United States has
!previously said that the Soviet Union
may be" preparing a nationwide de-
fense, and officials said there would be
1 no basic change in that assessment.
They said that intelligence did not
provide a strong case for the Pentagon
Lyleay_and that some of the past con-
Past concerns on
Soviet were
overstated.
cerns, stated in the 1986 report on pur-
ported Soviet violations, had been over-
stated.
For example, they said, the United
States had expressed concern about a
Soviet practice drill in the reloading of
ABM launchers near Moscow. The re-
loading had been conducted in a matter
of hours. The ABM treaty has a provi-
sion against "rapid" reloading, without
being specific.
Government experts noted that the
reloading drill was held in 1983, and has
not been repeated since then.
The United States also said last year
that the Soviet Union might be trying to
improve its SA-12 antiaircraft missile
so that it could intercept ballistic mis-
siles. The 1986 report spoke about the
interception of a short-range tactical
missile, suggesting that the Russians
. might be able to improve the SA-12 so
that it would intercept long-range mis-
siles. Such improvements are probi-
hited by the ABM treaty.
Today Government experts said the
SA-12 had missed most of the time
when it was fired at the shorter-range
missile.
One expert said, "It hit once in about
20 times."
While the Defense Department has
cited the construction of the three new
radars in the western part of the Soviet
Union as signs that the Russians are
building an ABM defense of their terri-
tory, other experts said that the radars
were intended for early warning of an
American attack.
The construction of early-warning
radars is allowed by the ABM treaty
since they are on the periphery of
Soviet territory and oriented outward.
Mobile Radars Were Questioned
In 1986, the United States also voiced
concern about the development and de-
ployment of old radars that it consid-
ered mobile systems. Mobile compo-
nents of ABM systems are prohibited
by the 1972 treaty.
But earlier this year, Government
experts said, the Russians had only
four of these old radars and several of
them have since been dismantled.
Past reports about Soviet adherence
to arms treaties also said the Russians
are "likely" to have violated two trea-
ties of the 1970's that limit the size of
underground nuclear tests.
Since that charge was first made, the
Central Intelligence Agency has low-
ered its estimates of the size of the nu-
clear explosions conducted by the
Soviet Union. And some experts at the
United States nuclear laboratories
have questioned the earlier allegation.
A draft of the latest United States re-
port that is soon to be made public says
that further study of this question is
needed. But the forthcoming report will
not withdraw the past allegations.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302430006-7