65. Memorandum From Secretary of Defense Weinberger to President Reagan1
SUBJECT
- Weekly Report of Defense Activities (U)
Congressional Activities: After weeks of delay, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee began their markup this week of our FY 1986 Defense Appropriations Bill. In preparation for the markup, I invited all the subcommittee members to a working breakfast at the Pentagon on Wednesday2 at which time we made a hard push for several of our key programs. Of particular concern was the expected cut in our SDI program. Several members have talked of reducing our $3.7 billion request to $1.9 billion. The Defense Authorization Bill, which is still awaiting final House approval, reduced the program to $2.75 billion. We believe that, at least partly as a result of our breakfast and our intensive briefing program, we were able to stave off a cut to $1.9 billion and have $2.5 billion approved by the subcommittee on Thursday. We face another hurdle when the full House Appropriations Committee considers the Defense bill on October 24. Another effort will be made at that time to cut the SDI program to a totally unacceptable level. We will be making additional calls to members and providing classified briefings to gain support for our position. We may need your assistance on this as we refine our targets and get closer to the actual vote.
On other issues related to the subcommittee markup, we received approval for the full MX compromise of 50 deployed missiles, having successfully avoided thus far an attempt to cut back to 40 missiles. However, the committee voted to place a moratorium on ASAT weapons, similar to the ban the House approved earlier this year in the Defense Authorization Bill, which was later modified in conference to permit three tests. We are working to lift the ASAT restriction in the House, and at the same time we are working in the Senate to win this one back in conference. The House subcommittee reinstated restrictive language on chemical weapons that had been dropped by the authorization conference. Again, we will work hard with the Senate to prevail in conference.
[Omitted here is information unrelated to SDI or the MX missile.]
Speech before Philadelphia World Affairs Council: Yesterday I spoke to the Philadelphia World Affairs Council on “Strategic Defense and [Page 228] American Strategy.”3 This talk was designed to contribute to public diplomacy efforts preceding your meeting with Gorbachev next month.
I described how we see our research into defensive technology fitting into our overall strategy for peace and stability, why we consider it a bright hope for mankind, and why we cannot regard SDI as a bargaining chip to be negotiated away. I wanted to show that, as a democratic and peaceful nation, we cannot rest easily with a deterrence policy that depends exclusively on the threat of mass destruction or mutual suicide. (U)
[Omitted here is material not related to SDI or the MX missile.]
- Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Weinberger Papers, Department of Defense Files, Box CL 829, Subject File, 1985 President—reports to #43–57 (4). Secret.↩
- October 2. No minutes were found.↩
- Weinberger’s October 30 speech is in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1985, pp. 63–67.↩