Word: sdi
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...Arms Reduction Talks (START) in Geneva. The Soviets have agreed to significant reductions in their ICBMs -- but only on condition that the U.S. accept restrictions on the development and testing of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars. The Administration is willing to discuss a moratorium on deployment of SDI, but not constraints on testing. The President has said he is worried that the Soviets are out to "kill" the program with restrictions on research and development...
...Kremlin harbors the opposite suspicion: that R. and D. will turn out to be a smoke screen for an all-out program to deploy SDI. As Roald Sagdeyev, director of Moscow's Space Research Institute, told TIME, "We need some kind of insurance policy on SDI; otherwise, what is advertised innocently as a testing program could lead to rapid deployment of a full-scale system. Unrestrained SDI testing would confront our military planners with the requirement of more offensive systems, not less. It's that simple...
...Soviets are warning of a new round of the arms race in the more important arena of strategic weaponry. With that stick -- and with the carrot of the deep cuts they have conditionally agreed to in START -- the Kremlin is hoping to induce the Administration to rein in SDI...
Sometimes the Soviets have insisted on linking the various negotiations: no INF deal without a strategic offense-defense trade-off. At other times they have appeared willing not to link the issues, letting Reagan have an agreement and a summit without his having to make any concessions on SDI. Their current position is ambiguous -- and therefore flexible. Currently they are proposing an "INF-plus" summit. The plus would be a "framework agreement" on START and SDI -- not a full treaty, but an outline of its main provisions, notably including testing limits for SDI...
...often in the past, the Reagan Administration is split between the Pentagon and the State Department. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger opposes any significant compromise on any aspect of SDI, including deployment. Colleagues say he favors an INF-only deal as a "firebreak" that will satisfy congressional yearning for arms control while leaving SDI intact. Paul Nitze, special adviser to Shultz and Reagan on arms control, is concerned that an INF-only deal could lead to a Soviet strategic buildup if there is no progress in START. The only way to break the deadlock in START, he feels...