Word: sdi
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...have always thought SDI was a dynamite bargaining chip. There are two things that the summit proved. It proved that SDI is one hell of a bargaining chip, and it proved that Ronald Reagan is indeed a true believer in SDI. I * think the President basically should have traded SDI. But Ronald Reagan has this vision of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. I think the Administration was going to take the p.r. high ground by offering something very radical and dramatic. I don't know how they got snookered into that notion (of complete disarmament); it scares the bejesus...
...President made a dramatic proposal in Iceland. It is a major step forward, a courageous and perceptive move toward going back to a non-nuclear world -- as far as that is practical." McNamara points out that the Soviet position on SDI may be more negotiable than is often supposed. "The Soviets did not propose that we sacrifice SDI. They proposed to limit the program to what they understand to be the terms of the ABM treaty. They fear that if the Americans move SDI beyond the limits of the treaty, the U.S. would have a strategic advantage that would give...
...useful work done in Iceland. I look on it as an intelligence operation. We come away with a clearer vision of the alternatives. We can either have arms control or we can have a crash program to deploy defense. We can't have both. The President has always said SDI is just a research program, and the Soviets say let's limit it to research. It shouldn't be beyond the ingenuity of man to reach some sort of accommodation between those two positions...
...present, SDI is a theoretical dream." Rusk is concerned that the Soviets may not realize just how theoretical SDI is, and that they are basing their bottom-line position on fears of a system that, he believes, could not exist within the next decade. "The Soviets are afraid of SDI because they agree with us that if the ABM treaty is abrogated, each side will have to multiply its offensive weapons to smother the other side's defensive systems. We must admit that we too would be uncomfortable about spaceships firing lasers, and particle beams circling over our heads. Still...
Former chief scientist, SDI Organization, Defense Department...