Word: salt
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...first reactions were ho-hum, noting that the glass was, depending on the perspective, either half empty or half full. What Ronald Reagan announced on Tuesday confirmed weeks of leaks: the U.S. would stay in compliance with the SALT II treaty for the moment by dismantling two Poseidon missile-firing submarines to make way for a newly launched Trident sub, but it would also continue equipping B-52 bombers with cruise missiles at a pace that will break the treaty's limits by year's end. It looked like a typical something-for- both-doves-and-hawks move, leaving...
...week's end it became obvious that the Administration was virtually declaring SALT dead--killed, it claimed, by repeated Soviet violations. Reagan's rhetoric, and follow-up comments by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz, indicated that last week's announcement amounted to a major shift in U.S. policy. It was a change that incurred the wrath of many of America's NATO allies as well as the Soviet Union, and may have hurt chances of a second Reagan-Gorbachev summit this year...
...stressed that the Poseidons were being dismantled primarily because they are old and inefficient and would cost too much to refurbish. Accusing the Soviets of committing a pattern of treaty violations, Reagan said that once the number of cruise missiles on B-52 bombers puts the U.S. over the SALT II limits (probably by December), there will be no compensating reduction to observe the treaty...
...steps necessary to alter the current situation." But that hardly encouraged advocates of compliance. One official involved in arms control policy described Reagan as "fed up" with the arguments over adherence to the treaty. "The debate is over," said he. "He's made his decision and that's it. SALT II is finito...
...agreement." On NBC-TV's Today show he stated that the U.S. will take whatever steps it feels necessary for national security, and never mind what the treaty says. Said he: "Our security requirements will be the primary, indeed, the only concern. Whether you're technically in compliance (with SALT) or not is a totally irrelevant factor...