3. Editorial Note
On Friday, November 30, 1984, President Ronald Reagan chaired a meeting of the National Security Planning Group in the Situation Room from 1:45 until 2:45 p.m. to discuss Soviet strategy on arms control, the current status of Soviet forces, and projections of future Soviet capabilities. Principals agreed to the importance of pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and obtaining Congressional support for production and deployment of the M–X missile. Toward the end of the meeting, Reagan asserted “that the Soviet goal is to protect the motherland while developing military power that they can use to blackmail the West.” The minutes of this meeting are printed in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, volume IV, Soviet Union, January 1983–March 1985, Document 323.
The following Wednesday, December 5, the National Security Planning Group met in the Situation Room from 2:00 until 3:00 p.m. President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs Robert McFarlane introduced the agenda as a discussion of U.S. and Soviet objectives in the arms control talks set to start in January in Geneva and summarized a paper prepared by the Senior Arms Control Group. “Our goal is to get a useful process going and to achieve formal negotiations on offensive systems while we discuss the relationship of defense to offense,” McFarlane said. Midway through the meeting, President Reagan “noted that we could build on the Soviet preoccupation with protecting the homeland by making clear that we have no intention of starting a nuclear war” and “have no objections to their having defenses, but we have to look at defenses for ourselves and we need to look at reducing and ultimately eliminating nuclear weapons.” After meeting participants discussed anti-satellite weapons and other advanced technologies, the President concluded: “SDI gives us a great deal of leverage on the Soviet Union.” The minutes of this meeting are printed in [Page 8] Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, volume IV, Soviet Union, January 1983–March 1985, Document 326.
The National Security Planning Group met again on December 10, in the Situation Room from 2:00 until 3:00 p.m. McFarlane introduced the agenda as a discussion of six questions concerning the U.S. position in Geneva: (1) “Do we want separate START and INF negotiations or should they be merged?”; (2) “What shall we do about Space—negotiations or discussions only?”; (3) “Should Space issues be dealt with separately or merged with START and INF?”; (4) “Should we combine everything together in one large negotiation, perhaps having separate working groups?”; (5) “How do we deal with the objectives of Umbrella discussions?”; and (6) “Should we view these as ‘Umbrella Talks’ or perhaps ‘Stability’ talks?” The President and his team debated these questions yet did not arrive at definitive answers. At the close, Reagan “noted that the situation today is like a duel between two gunfighters. Our policy of MAD could get us both killed. It is just too dangerous.” The minutes are printed in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, volume IV, Soviet Union, January 1983–March 1985, Document 331.