SHULTZ DISCUSSES POLICY ON SOVIET WITH KEY EXPERTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640067-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: August 22, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAID-reclassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/20: C
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
SHULTZ DISCUSSES
POLICY ON SOVIET
WITH KEY EXPERTS
LONG-TERM PLANS STUDIED
Secretary Said to Stress Need
to Review Political, Arms
and Economic Issues
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 ? Secretary
of State George P. Shultz held an all-
day meeting today with experts on
Soviet affairs and senior Reagan Ad-
ministration officials to discuss United
States policy toward the Soviet Union.
With the crisis in west Beirut appar-
ently ending, Mr. Shultz has decided it
Is time to pay more attention to interna-
tional issues other than the Middle
East, his aides said, and has given pri-
ority to a review of long-term political,
economic and military policy toward
the Russians.
Mr. Shultz, who has no?particular ex-
pertise in Soviet affairs, patterned
today's session after an all-day meeting
he had with former Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger and others on Mid-
dle East policy on July 17, the day after
he was sworn in as Secretary.
Brezhnev's Ill Health Cited
According to State Department offi-
cials there is a need for a fresh look at
policy toward the Soviet Union, given
major developments already apparent.
They said that in view of the precarious
state of Leonid I. Brezhnev's health
there is always a chance of a shift in the
Soviet leadership, which would necessi-
tate a careful handling of relations dur-
ing the initial post-Brezhnev period.
In the economic field, the Adminis-
tration ha L become involved in a seri-
ous dispute with its Western European
allies over sanctions against the Soviet
Union as a result of the imposition of
. _
THE NEW YORK TIMES
22 August 1982
martial law in Poland. The Europeans
have refused to go along with President
Reagan's efforts to prevent organiza-
tions with licenses from American com-
panies from producing components for
a natural gas pipeline from Siberia to
Western Europe. The Administration is
considering what steps to take against
companies that defy the American
sanction.
Moreover, the Administration, in
deference to pressure from the farm
belt, has allowed sales of grain to the
Soviet Union to continue, at the same
time that it is trying to curb the transfer
of technology. This has prompted addi-
tional criticism from Europeans who
have charged Washington with trying to
limit their trade with Moscow while
continuing its own agricultural trade.
Relations between the Reagan Ad-
minrstration and the Soviet Union have
been strained, but the two Governments
have begun separate negotiations on
limiting medium-range nuclear mis-
siles in Europe and on seeking reduc-
tions in each side's strategic nuclear
weapons. No progress has been re-
ported from either set of negotiations. ?
Haig Stressed Contacts
Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig
Jr. had stressed the importance of
maintaining contact with the Russians,
and at one point even seemed to advo-
cate an early meeting between Mr.
Reagan and Mr. Brezhnev, an idea that
seems to have been put aside by the
White House.
Mr. Haig held three rounds of meet-
ings with Foreign Minister Andrei A.
Gromyko of the Soviet Union, the last
on June 18 and 19, in New York, just a
week before Mr. Haig resigned. Mr.
Shultz is planning to attend the regular
United Nations General Assembly ses-
sion in New York next month and would
normally meet with Mr. Gromyko
there, but no firm plans have been set.
Several of the outside experts who
took part in today's session with Mr.
Shultz served as senior officials in
previous administrations and Mr.
Shultz knows some of them from his
days as Treasury Secretary for Presi-
dent Nixon from 1972m 1974.
Former Kissinger Aides Present
They included William G. Hyland and
Helmut Sonnenfeldt, who were Mr. Kis-
singer's chief Soviet affairs advisers,
and Brent Scowcroft, who served as Mr.
Kissinger's deputy on the National Se-
curity Council and later became na-
tional security adviser to President
Ford.
IA-RDP90-00965R000302640067-7
Also participating were Donald
Rumsfeld, who was Mr. Ford's Defense
Secretary, and Harold Brown, who was
President Carter's Defense Secretary, i
as well as the present Defense Secre-
tary, Caspar W. Weinberger.
Mr. Shultz's willingness to consult
with Mr. Kissinger has aroused consid-
erable attention, since many of Mr.
Reagan's supporters have been critical
of Mr. Kissinger's policies. At his news
conference on Friday Mr. Shultz was
asked about the increased attention
being given to Mr. Kissinger and his
former aides, and whether it was true
that Mr. Kissinger was now becoming
"the primary foreign policy adviser of
this Administration."
Praise for Ex-Secretary
In response Mr. Shultz said that he
himself was the principal foreign policy
adviser. But he then went out of his way
to praise Mr. Kissinger.
"Dr. Kissinger is a wonderful person
and a great friend, a person who has
tremendous knowledge and comprehen-
sion of what is going on," he said. "I
have enjoyed the benefit of his friend-
ship and his ideas over many years, and
I expect to continue to have that."
"I'll continue to benefit from his ad-
vice," he said. "But it's my job to be the
principal foreign policy adviser to the
President."
Peter G. Peterson, who as Mr. Nix-
on's Commerce Secretary, negotiated
the trade package with the Soviet Union
that was signed in 1972, also attended
the meeting. That trade package
marked the high point of what became
known as detente but was renounced by
the Russians in 1974 when Congress
linked credits and tariff reductions to
the rate of Jewish emigration from the
Soviet Union.
W. Allen Wallis, who has been desig-
nated as the Under Secretary of State
for Economic Affairs, was another who
took part in today's session, along with
Walter J. Stoessel Jr., the outgoing
Deputy Secretary.
Norman Podhoretz, the editor of.
Commentary magazine, and a leading
neo-conservative critic of the Reagan
Administration's foreign policy for not
being consistently firm enough against
the Russians, was another participant.
Others from the Administration who
took _part included: Henry S. Rowen,
head of the National Intelligence Coun-
cil of the Central Intellig.ence Agency,
which deals with producing estimates
on other countries; Robert C.McFar-
lane, deputy director of the National Se-
curity Council staff; James Buckley,
counselor-designate of the State De-
partment; Richard Burt, Assistant Sec-
retary of State-designate for European
affairs; Jonathan Howe, director of
political-military affairs at the depart-
ment, and Paul D. Wolfowitz, director
of the department's Policy Planning I
staff.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640067-7