LONG IS OPPOSING SALT PACT, CITING SOVIET 'BAD FAITH'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400350087-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2004
• Sequence Number: 87
• Publication Date: September 13, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400350087-8
ARTICLE ApPE THE WASHINGTON POST i_:?.
t S
Oki PACES 13 September 1979 :
Lon Is Opposing
SALT Pact, Chin"-
6,
"'bad Faith'
By Robert G. Kaiser
Washington Post Staff writes .. ..
Sen. Russell B. Long (.D-La.), pne-,
of the most influential members of
the Senate, announced yesterday that-..
he would vote against the SALT:,I]o
pact, declaring that it cannot be veri
fied and that Soviet combat troops in.
Cuba demonstrated Soviet bad faith--..
Though Long had spoken critically-
of SALT II in the past, the Carter ad-,
ministration had hoped for his vote,.
and most of its optimistic projections
for Senate approval of the arms
treaty assumed Long's eventual sup-
port.
Without Long, administration off!
cials acknowledged last night, the.
task of finding 67 senators to support
SALT will be vastly more difficult.
Long is presumed to carry substan-
tial influence with a key bloc of , mod
crate southern Democrats who remain
one administration official said last
night. This source said it, was especial-
ly significant that Long would exploit
the flap over troops in Cuba to an-
nounce opposition to SALT II.
Long revealed his decision in an In-
terview with columnist Carl Rowan
on WDVM-TV in Washington. "If I
had any doubts about it [SALT II],
and I didn't have much," Long told
Rowan, "my doubts were removed by
the last indication down there in
Cuba that the Russians are not keep-
ing their faith on the agreement they
Long said that at the, end of the
Cuban missile crisis ' In 1962, the So- viets agreed to remove their missiles
from Cuba and not to station. offen-
sive weapons there in the future. "I
don't think the agreement contem-
plated that they were going to have
[combat] troops In Cuba," Long said.
The Louisiana Democrat, who is
chairman of the Finance Committee,
also criticized the treaty. "I think we
could get a better agreement," he,
said. "And it appears to me this
agreement is not going to prevent an
arms race. It's simply going to be
part of an arms race."
"I don't believe the thing is verifi-
able.",,
hearing yesterday. The administration
now considers Stone a likely "no"
vote.
Both Long and Stone voted for the
Panama Canal treaties last year and
both are running for reelection in
1980.
Administration ' lobbyists reckon
that without those two, they must get
the votes of Lawtan Chiles (D-Fla.), plus
both Alabama senators (Howell Hef-
flin and Donald Stewart, both Demo-
crats), Nunn and Herman Talmadge
(D-Ga.), and Robert Morgan (D-N.C.).
Chiles and Morgan may be inclined to
back the..treaty, and the others remain
undecided and skeptical.
Virtually all the swing senators have
continued to say they are formally
undecided on the treaty.
undecided on SALT.
The fact that Long cited -the pres-
ence of Soviet combat troops in Cuba as
a reason for his decision on SALT'was
particularly painful for the Carter- ad-
ministration, which is both divided-'and
dispirited by the flap set off byre-
cent intelligence findings that a com-
bat-capable Soviet brigade is in Cuba.
Until this was revealed late last
month, White House strategists
thought their campaign for SALT.` II
was going well. They felt that politi.
cal momentum was building behind
the treaty, and that moderate figures
like Russell Long were likely to :come
down in favor of it.
"If there is one guy who can :put
his finger up in the wind and--say.
how it's blowing, Russell Long is him,Y'
Long's decision to oppose SALT
means, as one administration official
put it last night, that "we [the admin-_
istration] can't. afford to lose too
many more Democrats," and have any
hope of winning the necessary two-.
thirds Senate approval for the treaty.
White House hopes for moderate
southern suport for the treaty now-
must ride on Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.),
who has been pressing the Carter j
administration to increase defense
spending significantly if it wants his
vote for the, arms pact.
Nunn is one of a group of senators
meeting early this morning with Pres
ident Carter. to urge him to spend:
more for defense....Thus far, Nunn hasr;
expressed dissatisfaction with the ad-
ministration's plans for an expanded
defense budget .
Another southerner, Richard Stone.
(D-Fla.), harshly criticized SALT II
in a Foreign Relations Committee
Approved For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-01315R000400350087-8