Word: sdi
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...Reykjavik last year, SDI remained the main stumbling block to a major breakthrough. The Soviets have long claimed that all but the most basic Star Wars research is precluded by the 1972 ABM treaty. The Reagan Administration, under its much disputed "broad" interpretation of that treaty, insists that more advanced research and certain types of tests in space are permitted. In addition, the Soviets seek a guarantee that neither side will withdraw from the ABM treaty to deploy a space-based antimissile system for at least ten years. Dealing with that impasse was the job of the working group that...
Reagan outlined his position on SDI during his Wednesday-morning meeting with Gorbachev in the Oval Office. "We are going forward with the research and development necessary to see if this is a workable concept," said the President, "and if it is, we are going to deploy it." Gorbachev listened intently, looking Reagan hard in the eyes as he spoke. When Reagan finished, the Soviet leader replied: "Mr. President, do what you think you have to do. And if in the end you think you have a system you want to deploy, go ahead and deploy...
...meant but offered several possible explanations: that the Soviets were working on their own defensive system (a fact that Gorbachev seemed to concede in his interview with NBC's Tom Brokaw two weeks ago); that they might consider breaking the moratorium on antisatellite systems, which could cripple space-based SDI components; or that they might resort to abrogating existing treaties and rebuilding their nuclear arsenals...
However obscure Gorbachev was about his secret hardware, he left no doubt that the SDI issue was no longer an obstacle to an agreement on strategic cuts. This was a considerable concession from the Soviets, whose insistence on nipping Star Wars in the bud had led them to link SDI restrictions to the tentative wide-ranging agreements reached at the Reykjavik summit last year. Yet the Soviets have long pursued a tactic of linking and unlinking and then relinking SDI to other agreements; the idea is sure to come back to haunt a START agreement before the two leaders...
...Nitze-Akhromeyev working group focused its efforts on drafting the language of its joint communique in such a way as to defer the SDI problem without undermining the validity of the ABM treaty. At the same time, it sought to reach agreement on the "subceilings" that would be placed on different types of strategic missiles and bombers within the framework of reducing each side's warheads by half. The group was still struggling with texts and numbers as Gorbachev and Reagan were ending their final working lunch in the Family Dining Room of the White House. Stretching out their meal...