REAGAN DEFENDS SALT DECISION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402920022-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: June 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

~~ Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000402920022-4
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wY ~,~ ,T . w
en within the administration to
changing the decisions announced
May 27.
Commenting on Reagan's re-
marks, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman Richard G.
Lugar (R-Ind.) said last night he
thinks that the president was delib-
Reagan Defends SALT Decision
U.S. to Seek Talh~s on Arms-Cut Treaty kith Soviets
,~ By David Hoffman
R'a~hmgh!n Po,t St~if Wntcr
President Reagan, defending his intention
to break with the SALT II strategic arms
treaty because of alleged Soviet violations,
promised last night that the United States
will "do our utmost" in the months ahead to
draw the Soviet Union into talks on a replace-
ment treaty that would reduce superpower
arsenals.
In a nationally televised news conference in
which he appeared halting and sometimes
confused. Reagan emphasized that the United
States will seek to talk to the Soviets about a
"definite arms-reduction program" before ex-
ceeding the SALT II limits when the 131st
B52 bomber is armed with cruise missiles at
year's end.
"We're going to see if we cannot persuade
them to join in the things they're talking
about-arms reduction;' Reagan said. "And,
if nothing is done, then we'll make the deci-
sion with regard to that plane."
Reagan misunderstood two questions in
the half-hour session at the White House.
Asked about yesterday's Warsaw Pact pro-
posal for major troop reductions, he re-
sponded about a separate Soviet proposal on
reducing strategic weapons. Asked about yes-
terday's Supreme Court decision on abortion,
he responded about a decision earlier this
week in the "Baby Dce" case.
Reagan said that he "goofed" in a
speech this week in which he ap-
peared to Gken Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev to Cuba's Fidel
Castro. Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization leader Yasser Arafat and
Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. Reagan
twice said that Gorbachev is the
first Soviet leader "that has ever
voluntarily spoken of reducing nu-
clear weapons."
The president speculated that
the explosion of the space shuttle
Challenger Jan. 28 might have been
due to "the balmy climate off Flor-
ida" that made it "difficult for any-
body to believe that they'd had a
cold snap that ...could render that
O-ring dangerous." Although his top
White House advisers are report-
edly leaning the other way, Reagan
announced that he wants to go for-
ward with building a fourth shuttle
orbiter, but 6e offered no details.
Reagan also reiterated a view he
expressed last month that many
people are hungry because they
lack information about food assist-
ance, but he went further last night,
saying, "I find it difficult also to find
any cases of starvation and under-
nourishment." Anumber of private
studies have reported that there is
a growing hunger problem among
Americans.
On arms control, Reagan was
asked about his May 27 announce-
ment that the United States is aban-
doning SALT II. The announcement
caused protests from U.S. allies and
critics in Congress that Reagan was
giving up on a treaty that, although
never ratified by the Senate, had
helped prevent an unrestrained
weapons buildup.
At that time, Reagan said he
would no longer base U.S. military
decisions on the "flawed SALT II
treaty" and that he intended to de-
pley aB52 bomber in a way that
would exceed the numerical limits
of SALT II near the end of this
year. But Reagan then appealed to
the Soviets to use the months ahead
"to take the constructive steps nec-
essary to alter the current situa-
tion" and said that if that is done,
"we will certainly take this into ac-
count."
Last night Reagan emphasized
his intention to try and draw the
Soviets into talks about a replace-
ment treaty for SALT II, saying
that the Soviets have "an opportu:
nity to meet us now" on arms re-
ductions.
At one point Reagan was asked
why he had decided now to abandon
SALT II. He went so far as to say,
"I didn't make it now. I said we've
got several months to try to involve
them [the Soviets] in things they,
themselves, have been talking
about and that is a definite arms-re-
duction program."
As in his May 27 announcement,
however, Reagan did not say explic-
itly what he is asking the Soviets to
do or what response he would lie
prepared to make. A serdor U.S.
official in the arms control area said
there is no consideration being giv-
erately keeping his options open. "I
think the president was obviously
trying to avoid" being pinned down
about exceeding the SALT II limits,
he said. "He was saying the door is
open if there is a change" in Soviet
behavior, he added.
Senate Minority Leader Robert
C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), however, had a
different interpretation of Reagan's
words. He said, "The president has
heard our allies and Congress. He
has said a decision on SALT II has
not been made. His advisers should
take a cue from the president. The
' rhetoric on killing the current re-
straints should end."
Reagan last night did not reject
out of hand a new Soviet arms con-
trol offer, which was broached in
the Geneva talks May 29 and was
formally presented by Soviet nego-
tiators in Geneva yesterday. "We
don't know yet until we see it care-
fully' whether some or all of it could
be acceptable to the United States,
he said.
Officials said active discussions
are taking place within the admin-
istration about the Soviet proposal,
which is reported to call for large
cuts in offensive strategic arms in
return for U.S. adherence to the
1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty
for 15 to 20 more years.
Reagan also expressed confi-
dence last night that there will be
another summit meeting with Gor-
bachev, but he did not predict that
it would be this year.
Opening the 37th nationally tele-
vised news conference of his pres-
idency, Reagan again warned
against making what' he called
"large and dangerous cuts" in the
defense budget and vowed to veto
any tax increase. He also praised
the version of tax-overhaul legis-
lation pending in the Senate and
called on Congress to approve his
request for $100 million to support
the rebels fighting the Sandinista
government of Nicaragua.
w
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000402920022-4
 "Delay (on the aid request) is
deadly and plays right along with
the communist game plan" to wipe
out the re~istancx, he said.
Earlies yesterday, a White House
spokesman, .Edward P. Djerejian,
announced that the administration
has obtained evidence showing that
a Soviet AN30 photo reconnais-
sance plane was identified in early
May at the Sandino airport in Nic-
aragua. "The aircraft carried Soviet
Aeroflot markings and presently is
being flown by Soviet pilots," he
said. "This is the first time that a
Soviet photo reconnaissance plane
has been based in Nicaragua. Such
aircraft are capable of photo recon-
naissance and photo mapping oper-
ations.
"Both such missions would be of
assistance obviously to the Sandi-
nistas in their counterinsurgency
operations" against the contras, or
counterrevolutionaries, he added.
The plane has flown four missions
since it has been in Nicraragua, he
said. The announcement is the lat-
est the White House has made
about Soviet aid to the Sandinistas
as part of a campaign to win the
congressional battle over aid to the
rebels.
In a speech Monday discussing
the rebels, Reagan had said, "Just
as the men and women of the resis-
tance have decided what they must
do, so, too, have Gorbachev, Cas-
tro, Arafat and Gadhafi." Asked last
night what effect the comment
would have on the next summit with
Gorbachev, Reagan said, "[ didn't
think I lumped him in with them."
When informed he had, the presi-
dent added, "it was a bad choice of
words, because I didn't mean to do
that.... So I must have goofed
some place, because believe me, I
don't put him in the same catego-
ry."
Reagan apparently had trouble
concentrating on the next question
about yesterday's Supreme Court
decision on abortion, telling the
questioner, "Hit me again here." He
then misunderstood the query and
talked about a court decision on the
"Baby Dce" case.
The president was also ques-
tion ast to t a u contra tc-
tory statements rpm t ~e fate an
Justice departments over the Pol-
lard s case and the extent of os-
st a Israeli spying against t e rat-
ed States.
~Feagan said "the only thin I
kno is t at Brae as assure us
as much as the can that the~hav~e
never a anv program o trv~ 'nQ to
get intelligence information from
our country or doing anv spving on
us." While the Justice Department
is _con ucting a further investiaa_
tion, he said. "there's been no ev- _
idence resented to us fro
one o a ditional espionage. and if
such evidence is found, "we'll have
to ea wit t at t en an m out
wet er it s a surprise to the Israeli _
government, w et er someone was _
o p a m t eir own ame or not.
so~st nig t, t e presi ed nt said
he agrees with former secretary of
state William P. Rogers, chairman
of the commission that investigated
the space shuttle accident, that in-
dividuals should not be punished for
the disaster, which killed seven as-
tronauts.
"I don't believe that there was
any deliberate or criminal intent in
any way on the part of anyone,"
Reagam said. He blamed the acci-
dent on "complacency" at the space
agency, saying that "it was just a
carelessness that grew out of suc-
cess."
"Maybe part of it was also due-
I've often wondered this: if part of it
wasn't due to the balmy climate of
Florida and that it was difficult for
anybody to believe that they'd had a
cold snap that was-that could ren-
der that 0-ring dangerous," he said.
Asked about reports of racial dis-
crimination at the Agriculture De-
partrient, Reagan said Secretary
Richard E. Lyng is investigating
them and is determined to correct
any wrongs.
Staff writers Helen Dewar and Dort
Oberdorfer co~ttributed to this
report
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP90-009658000402920022-4