Word: burtness
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...February 1983, Burt had been confirmed in his new position as Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, and he took command as the principal State Department official overseeing the Geneva talks. That meant waging a two-front battle: against Nitze's advocacy of greater concessions and Perle's championing of the zero option. It also meant accommodating pressure that was building up from across the Atlantic...
...Burt developed a plan that would permit 300 warheads on each side: 100 triple-warhead Soviet SS-20s throughout the U.S.S.R. against a mixed force for NATO of 300 Pershing Us and cruise missiles. But National Security Adviser Clark favored "hanging tough on zero," and Weinberger said, "We don't want it to look as though we're letting the West German left push us around...
...State Department's Burt had dismissed the walk-in-the-woods proposal more than once as a "harebrained scheme." He believed deployment of both cruise and Pershing II missiles must begin before the Soviets would negotiate seriously. He also wanted to see a breakthrough in the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), which were being held simultaneously in Geneva with the purpose of reducing intercontinental U.S. and Soviet arsenals, before there was a deal on intermediate-range weapons...
...Burt was able to convince Eagleburger and Shultz. In an interview with TIME, Shultz said, "I think the Pershings in some fashion are an essential part of our deployment package because their characteristics are different from the [cruise missiles...
...Burt had been refining the State Department option. The result was similar in many respects to the walk in the woods, with the important exception that the U.S. would retain the right to deploy the Pershing II. Weinberger did not want to budge. "We're doing fine," he said at an NSC meeting in mid-August. "Our position is already a good one. If it's not broken...