Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XI, START I

135. Electronic Message From Peter Rodman of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Poindexter)¹

Washington, June 13, 1986, 6:02 p.m.

SUBJECT

• Shultz Meeting with President

Shultz made presentations on two issues (Middle East and strategic arms control) and mentioned two brief items at the end (Cuba and South Africa).²

[Omitted here is a discussion of the Middle East.]

On arms control, Shultz said he wasn’t sure he was effectively communicating his view of the issue so he wanted to go over again what he had said at the NSPG.³ The key aim, he said, was “how to lock in SDI” for succeeding administrations. He felt the Soviets had “reopened the bazaar” in both START reductions and in conceding SDI research. He thought we could live with a 5–6 year pledge not to withdraw from the ABM treaty since it would be 5–6 years until a deployment decision; the Soviets have also said it would take 5–6 years to phase in deep reductions. We could match these up, link the two, and “turn SDI into a compliance mechanism that keeps the reductions going.” The President said this seemed “akin” to what he had said at the NSPG: Both sides could keep on with SDI research and, at the moment of a deployment decision, share the knowledge, observe each other’s tests, and deploy based on the elimination of ICBMs. A treaty to this effect would lock SDI in. Shultz interpreted this as consistent with what he had said, and told the President he was “reassured” by this conversation. I made no comment, but told Shultz afterwards that you too thought these concepts could be merged and that you would have a paper next week.

[Omitted here is a discussion of topics not related to START]

1. Source: National Archives, PROFS system, Reagan Administration. No classification marking. Copied to McDaniel.
2. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Reagan and Shultz met from 1:39–2:16 p.m. in the State Dining Room of the White House. (Reagan Library, President’s Daily Diary) No memorandum of conversation was found.
3. Minutes of the National Security Planning Group meeting of June 12 are scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, vol. V, Soviet Union, January 1985–October 1986, Document 243.