259. Editorial Note
On January 10, 1983, President Ronald Reagan held a meeting of the National Security Planning Group from 2:27 to 3:12 p.m. in the Situation Room of the White House. (Reagan Library, President’s Daily Diary) No formal minutes of the meeting were found. According to the personal note Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth Dam dictated at the end of that day: “We had an NSPG meeting this afternoon at 2 o’clock in the Situation Room with the President. Actually it didn’t get started until about 2:30, because the President was behind schedule. Therefore, while we reviewed the question of whether there is anything new introduced into the U.S.–U.S.S.R. policy question by the arrival of Andropov on the scene, we did not discuss the INF issue, which [Page 861] was really the important, or at least the urgent, question on the agenda. The question has been remanded to the working group that I chair, and it will meet tomorrow, but it’s a little difficult to know what the working group can agree on at this time.” (Department of State, Executive Secretariat, S/S-I Records: Deputy Secretary Dam’s Official Files, Lot 85D308, Personal Notes of Deputy Secretary—Kenneth W. Dam—Oct. 1982–Sept. 1983) In a diary entry that day, Reagan wrote: “Another meeting was with N.S.C. planning group re our strategy with the Soviet U. Geo. S. thinks our re-direction since we’ve been here is a success.” (Brinkley, ed., The Reagan Diaries, Volume I, page 187)
On January 13, Reagan held a meeting of the National Security Planning Group from 1:05 to 2:13 p.m. in the Situation Room of the White House. (Reagan Library, President’s Daily Diary) No minutes were found. In a diary entry that day, Reagan wrote: “An N.S.C. meeting re our arms negotiations—we’ll stick with our zero option plan. Found I was wishing I could do the negotiating with the Soviets—They cant be any tougher than [Paramount Studios head] Y. Frank Freeman & [Columbia Pictures head] Harry Cohen.” (Brinkley, ed., The Reagan Diaries, Volume I, page 188)