U.S. REJECTS SALT FOR A DETERRENT TO FUTURE WARS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100160053-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: June 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified
in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100160053-6
AKICl,E
SZA - WASHINGTON TIMES
2 June
U.S. rejects
SALT for a
deterrent to
future wars
By Ed RogNers
THE WASHINGT TIMES
President Reagan's decision that the
United States will no longer be bound by SALT
II was in response to numerous Soviet arms
control violations and the U.S. need to "regain
a modern, effective deterrent to war," Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger said yesterday.
"They [the Soviets] got a head start by sim-
ply ignoring the treaty and violating it every
day," Mr. Weinberger said. "What we have to
do is to regain sufficient deterrent strength"
The United States needs to press ahead on
the MX missile, the Midgetman missile and
other weapons needed for strategic modern-
ization without the "artificial limits of a
flawed and expired treaty," he said.
Mr. Weinberger was questioned on CBS'
"Face the Nation" show about the U.S. de-
cision not to be bound any longer by the 1979
treaty. The United States has complied with
the treaty until now, although it was never
ratified by the Senate.
If the Soviets have a head start and retaliate
with new deployments, Mr. Weinberger was
asked, will the decision not cost more than it
gains?
"They [the Soviets] have deployed 72 SS-25s
[intercontinental ballistic missiles] and each
one is a violation of the SALT agreement, so
any idea that they would retaliate now is
really quite absurd;' Mr. Weinberger said.
"The retaliation took place years ago."
"We aren't after superiority or anything of
that kind," he said. "We are not engaged in a
spiraling arms race, as they say. What we're
trying to do is to regain a modern, effective
deterrent to war."
"Bear in mind that the only reason the So-
viets signed the SALT II treaty in the first
place was that it fully conformed with all of
the things they had already planned to do," Mr.
Weinberger said.
Caspar W. Weinberger
lute verification, and we've never been able to
get them to agree to any kind of verification,"
he said.
Mr. Weinberger also objected to any re-
straint on developing and deploying a defense
system, such as the President Reagan's pro-
posed Strategic Defense Initiative, some-
times called "star wars."
"I think that's the most hopeful prospect
mankind has, and the president's high prior-
ity that he assigns to that is, I think, absolutely
right;' he said. "Bear in mind, the Soviets have
been working on this 17 years."
Asked about the recent publication of leaks
of classified communications intelligence,
Mr. Weinberger said it "gives a great deal of
aid to the Soviets in knowing what our meth-
ods are with respect to intelligence collection,
signals information, cryptology and all of
those things"
"I don't think anybody wants to put any
kind of halters on the press, but what we do
wish ... is some kind of restraint, voluntary
restraint, so that when you get information
that ... can only help the Soviets ... it
wouldn't be published:'
Asked what the Soviets would have to do to CIA
Mr einbe Director William Case dt bseekh rose uV
cause the president to reconsider his de- bons o t ose w o w o Du lisp classified
cision, Mr. Weinberger said one thing would communications mtelli nce
be removing the 72 new SS-25 missiles. An- "Congress in 1950 passed a statute that said
other would be to allow effective verification, anyone who published this kind of informa-
he said. tion is liable to a $10,000 fine and 10 years in
"You can't trust them unless we have abso- jail;' Mr. Weinberger noted.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100160053-6