Office of the Historian

26. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Clark) to President Reagan1

Washington, June 24, 1982

SUBJECT

  • NSC Working Lunch on START—June 25, 1982, 12:00 P.M.

Issue: How should we handle Soviet heavy ICBMs (SS–18s) in the U.S. START proposal? Instructions to the U.S. Delegation?

Facts: The purpose of this NSC working lunch is to allow agencies to provide you their views on the heavy missile issue and on the instructions for the U.S. Delegation for the first round of negotiations.

Discussion: The IG has provided papers on: (1) how to constrain Soviet ICBM reconstitution capability,2 (2) draft instructions to the U.S. Delegation,3 (3) a number of additional proposed collateral constraints,4 and (4) additional indirect limits on throw weight to include the question of how to handle Soviet heavy ICBMs.5

There is consensus on how to address the first two papers and all but one of the constraints proposed in the third paper. The discussion of these items should move quickly. The critical issue is the treatment of Soviet heavy ICBMs.

We recommend the agenda below for the working lunch. For each item on the agenda, we have provided for your review a summary of the issue/paper, my intended talking points, a decision section for your use following the meeting’s discussion, and the IG paper developed to address the issues involved. We have not suggested any specific talking points for your use at this lunch. After you have indicated your decisions, we will incorporate them into the instructions to the START [Page 94] delegation and draft an NSDD for your signature which formally records your guidance.6

Agenda:

—ICBM Reconstitution and Refire (TAB A)

—Instructions to the START Delegation (TAB B)

—Additional Collateral Constraints (TAB C)

—Indirect Limits on Throw weight (and Treatment of Heavy ICBMs) (TAB D)

  1. Source: National Security Council, National Security Council Institutional Files, Box SR–101, NSC 00052 RWR 6/25/82 START. Secret. Sent for action. Prepared by Linhard and Kraemer. A stamped notation at the top of the document indicates Reagan saw the memorandum.↩
  2. Attached but not printed is a June 14 paper prepared in the START IG, “ICBM Reconstitution,” along with a decision recommendation: “That we accept the IG recommendation granting them additional time on this issue.” Also attached but not printed is another undated paper prepared in the NSC, “Background/Talking Points—Reconstitution/Refire,” on which Reagan initialed his approval of “the IG recommendation granting them additional time on this issue.”↩
  3. Attached but not printed are draft instructions to the START delegation, June 21.↩
  4. Attached but not printed.↩
  5. Attached but not printed.↩
  6. According to the President’s Daily Diary for June 25, Reagan participated in a National Security Council working luncheon in the Cabinet Room from 12:23 to 1:13 p.m. No minutes of this meeting were found. On July 8, Clark sent Reagan a memorandum, “Draft NSDD Reflecting Decisions Made at June 25 NSC Luncheon,” printed as Document 28.↩