364. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Armacost) to Secretary of State Shultz

Source: Department of State, Executive Secretariat, S/S, Executive Secretariat Special Caption Documents, 1979–1989, Lot 92D630, Not for the System Documents, January 1985. Secret; Sensitive. Not for the System.

365. Editorial Note

366. Memorandum From William Stearman of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (McFarlane)

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, Meetings with USSR Officials, Geneva Meeting: Shultz/Gromyko 01/07/1985–01/08/1985 (2). Confidential. Sent for information. Copies were sent to Lehman, Matlock, Kraemer, Linhard, and Steiner.

367. Memorandum From Secretary of State Shultz to President Reagan

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, Chronological File, 1980–1986, Matlock Chron January 1985 (3/4). Secret; Sensitive. The January 23 covering memorandum to McFarlane from Matlock is printed as Document 368.

368. Memorandum From Jack Matlock of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (McFarlane)

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, Chronological File, 1980–1986, Matlock Chron January 1985 (3/4). Secret; Sensitive. Sent for action. McFarlane wrote in the margin: “Thanks Jack.”

369. National Security Decision Directive 160

Source: Reagan Library, Robert Linhard Files, Arms Control Chron, Preparation for New Negotiations I 01/15/1985:NSDD 160 01/25/1985. Secret. Reagan initialed his approval of the NSDD on an attached January 24 memorandum from McFarlane. A January 22 memorandum to McFarlane from Linhard, Kraemer, and Lehman, also attached but not printed, indicates they drafted the NSDD and McFarlane’s memorandum to Reagan.

370. Information Memorandum From the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Abramowitz) to Secretary of State Shultz

Source: Reagan Library, George Shultz Papers, Box 13, Executive Secretariat Sensitive (02/01/1985–02/03/1985); NLR–775–13–7–6–4. Secret; Noforn; Nocontract; Orcon; Sensitive. Drafted by D. Graves on January 31. Abramowitz signed “Mort A” above his name in the “From” line. Abramowitz wrote Shultz a note on the last page: [text not declassified].

371. Information Memorandum From the Chairman of the Policy Planning Council (Rodman) to Secretary of State Shultz

Source: Department of State, S/P, Memoranda/Correspondence from the Director of the Policy Planning Staff, Lot 89D149, S/P Chrons PW 02/85. Drafted by Rodman. A notation reading “GPS” appears on the memorandum, indicating Shultz saw it. In a covering note to Murphy, Shultz wrote: “—this looks to me like a good basic paper and source of talking points for the meeting—share with the NSC as soon as you are satisfied with it.”

372. Memorandum From Secretary of State Shultz to President Reagan

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, Meetings with USSR Officials, US-Soviet Diplomatic Contacts 8/8. Secret; Sensitive. According to a covering memorandum to Shultz on another copy, it was drafted by Pascoe and cleared by Simons and Palmer. (Ibid.)

373. Personal Note Prepared by the Deputy Secretary of State (Dam)

Source: 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. 1984–June 1985. No classification marking. Dictated by Dam on February 27.

374. Paper Prepared in the Department of State

Source: Department of State, Paul Nitze Files, 1953, 1972–1989, Lot 90D397, January–February 1985. Secret; Sensitive. Drafted by Vershbow, Pifer, S. Coffey (PM/TMP), D. Schwartz (PM/SNP), and Dunkerley; cleared by O. Grobel (PM/TMP), R. Davis (PM/SNP), J.H. Hawes/J. Gordon (PM), Dobbins/Palmer, Courtney, Timbie, and E.M. Ifft (PM/DEL). Vershbow initialed for all drafting and clearing officials. In a covering memorandum to Shultz on a February 1 draft of this paper, Burt, Chain, and Nitze explained: “Mr. Secretary: The attached paper outlines our views on the substance of our positions on strategic arms reductions, intermediate-range nuclear forces reductions, and defense and space arms. We would like to discuss these ideas with you at an early opportunity, in order that we might have your guidance on how we should proceed in the interagency process underway.” (Reagan Library, George Shultz Papers, Box 3, 1985—Geneva)

375. Notes of a National Security Council Meeting

Source: Reagan Library, Sven Kraemer Files, Geneva—NSC Meeting, 03/04/1985. No classification marking. The editor transcribed Kraemer’s handwritten notes of the NSC meeting specifically for this volume. An image of the notes is Appendix E. No formal notes of the meeting were found. In a February 28 memorandum to Kimmitt, Linhard and Kraemer forwarded papers on Defense and Space, INF, and START in preparation for the March 4 NSC meeting. (Reagan Library, Sven Kraemer Files, December Chron File: [No. 111–No. 112]) These three papers correlate closely with topics covered in Kraemer’s notes of the meeting (see annotation below). In his diary on March 4, Reagan wrote: “We had an N.S.C. meeting with our Arms Talk Leaders looking at various options for how we wanted to deal with the Soviets. It’s very complicated business. I urged one decision on them—that we open the talks with a concession—surprise! Since they have publicly stated they want to see nuclear weapons eliminated entirely, I told our people to open by saying we would accept their goal.” (Brinkley, ed., The Reagan Diaries, vol. I, January 1981–October 1985, p. 431)

376. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (McFarlane) to President Reagan

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, Meetings with USSR Officials, Reagan-Shcherbitsky Meeting 03/07/1985 (3). Secret; Sensitive. Sent for information. Prepared by Matlock. Reagan initialed the memorandum, indicating he saw it. A copy was sent to Bush.

377. Personal Note Prepared by the Deputy Secretary of State (Dam)

Source: 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. 1984–June 1985. No classification marking. Dictated by Dam on March 11. In his March 5 entry, Dam also noted: “In the evening I went to the Capital Centre for a hockey game. The purpose of the hockey game was the invitation by Armand Hammer to the Soviet Congressional Delegation, which is here headed by Shcherbitskiy, a member of the Politburo. Not too much conversation was carried on, and on the whole, it didn’t quite meet the objective of providing a quiet informal basis for conversation with the Soviets.” (Ibid.)

378. Memorandum of Conversation

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, Chronological File, 1980–1986, Matlock Chron March 1985 (4/4). Secret; Sensitive. Prepared on March 8. A covering memorandum from Matlock to McFarlane suggests that the memorandum of conversation was drafted by Matlock. Brackets are in the original. The meeting took place in the Oval Office. Reagan wrote in his diary: “Big event was meeting with Polit bureau [Politburo] member (Soviet) Sheherbitsky [Shcherbitsky]. He had Ambas. Dobrynin & a couple of others with him. I had George S., Bud, Don Regan & a couple of others with me. He & I went round & round. His was the usual diatribe that we are the destablasing [destabilizing] force, threatening them. It was almost a repeat of the Gromyko debate except that we got right down to arguing. I think he’ll go home knowing that we are ready for negotiations but we d—n well aren’t going to let our guard down or hold still while they continue to build up their offensive forces.” (Brinkley, ed., The Reagan Diaries, vol. I, January 1981–October 1985, p. 433; brackets are in the original)

379. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (McFarlane) to President Reagan

Source: Reagan Library, Sven Kraemer Files, Chrons, March 1985 Chron File: [No.44–No.46]. Secret. Sent for action. Prepared by Kraemer and Linhard. Reagan initialed the memorandum, indicating he saw it.

380. National Security Decision Directive 165

Source: Reagan Library, George Shultz Papers, Box 3, 1985 Geneva. Secret. In a March 8 covering memorandum to multiple addressees, McFarlane noted: “The President has decided upon the following instructions for the first round of US/Soviet negotiations set to begin in Geneva on March 12, 1985.”

381. Memorandum From Jack Matlock of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (McFarlane)

Source: Reagan Library, Jack Matlock Files, USSR Subject File, Chernenko’s Death—Miscellaneous 03/10/1985. Top Secret; Sensitive. Sent for action.

382. Information Memorandum From the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs (Kelly) to Secretary of State Shultz

Source: Reagan Library, George Shultz Papers, Box 13, Executive Secretariat Sensitive Chron (03/09/1985–03/13/1985). Secret; Sensitive. Drafted by Simons and Pascoe; cleared by Palmer. Pascoe initialed for Kelly. The memorandum is stamped “Treat As Original.”

383. Editorial Note