Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume X, Eastern Europe

287. Action Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs (Ridgway) to Secretary of State Shultz¹

Washington, August 1, 1986

SUBJECT

• NSC Concept Paper: “Berlin Without Barriers”

ISSUE FOR DECISION

Whether to authorize the Platt-Poindexter response at Tab A² commenting on the NSC paper proposing a new Berlin initiative.

ESSENTIAL FACTORS

— On July 30 John Poindexter gave you an NSC concept paper (Tab B) on “Berlin Without Borders.”³ Poindexter requested the Department’s comments.

— The paper proposes the opening of major negotiations on all aspects of Berlin, including wartime and postwar agreements as well as the Quadripartite Agreement.

— The paper is fundamentally flawed since it considers abandonment of long-standing U.S. and Allied policies as a lure to the Soviets and East Germans:

It considers recognition of East Berlin as the capital of the GDR, a position that would undermine the entire Allied presence in Berlin as a whole;

It considers discussing with the Soviets (and presumably the GDR) the Four-Power military presence in the city. The Soviets have no significant military presence in the city but 400,000 troops around it. A proposal based on this concept might be welcomed by the Soviets, but should be rejected by us as addressing none of the U.S. (or Allied) interests.

— The proposal foresees reopening discussion of the QA to improve it. We consider this dangerous in view of the fact that the QA has worked to our complete satisfaction to date.

— The proposal foresees inclusion of East and West Germany in talks on Berlin—a direct violation of the QA itself and, more important, undermining our long-held rejection of any GDR claims to a role.

— Embassy Bonn and US Mission Berlin some weeks ago initiated a review of where we might go with the Berlin air regime. S/P has contributed a proposal and all three are working together with EUR to refine a more narrow and, we believe, a more appropriate initiative within the context of the Quadripartite Agreement.

— We continue to believe the Berlin Wall anniversary should be noted by the President in the statement we have provided earlier (TAB C).⁴

RECOMMENDATION

That you approve the Platt-Poindexter at Tab A.⁵

1. Source: Reagan Library, Secretary George Shultz Papers, Executive Secretariat Sensitive (08/01/1986–08/04/1986). Secret. Drafted on July 31 by George Glass (EUR/CE); cleared by Michael Habib (EUR/CE), Harry Gilmore (EUR/CE), and Ledsky. Glass initialed for Ledsky. Shultz’s initials are stamped in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the memorandum. Pascoe initialed and wrote “8/1” in the left-hand corner of the memorandum and initialed and wrote “8/4” in the right-hand corner of the memorandum.
2. Attached but not printed.
3. Attached but not printed. See Document 286.
4. Not found attached.
5. Shultz initialed the “Approve” option.