Preface

Structure and Scope of the Foreign Relations Series

This volume is part of a subseries of volumes of the Foreign Relations series that documents the most important issues in the foreign policy of the administration of Ronald Reagan. Two volumes in the subseries are devoted to Reagan’s national security policy: Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume XLIII, National Security Policy, 1981–1984; and Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume XLIV, National Security Policy, 1985–1988, which is split into two parts. Part 1 is a chronological documentation of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and the Strategic Modernization Program (SMP) during the second Reagan administration. Part 2 presents thematic documentation from the same period in four chapters: (1) Defense Policy and Strategic Planning; (2) Soviet Analysis and Risk Reduction; (3) The Strategic Stockpile, Machine Tools, and Export Control; and (4) National Security and Defense Preparedness. These volumes are closely linked to the four volumes in the subseries devoted to Reagan’s Soviet policies: Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume III, Soviet Union, January 1981–January 1983; Volume IV, Soviet Union, January 1983–March 1985; Volume V, Soviet Union, March 1985–October 1986; and Volume VI, October 1986–January 1989. The crafting and negotiation of the landmark U.S.-Soviet nuclear treaties of this era are explored in two additional volumes: Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume XI, START I, and Volume XII, INF, 1984–1988. Documentation on chemical weapons, nuclear testing, space arms control, and non-proliferation negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union will be published in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume XL, Global Issues I.

Focus of Research and Principles of Selection for Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume XLIV, Part 1

The main focus of this volume is the Strategic Defense Initiative, which Reagan announced on March 23, 1983, and established as a top administration priority after his reelection on November 6, 1984. With the commencement of the Nuclear and Space Arms Talks (NST) in Geneva in March 1985, and as Reagan prepared to meet Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev for the first time in Geneva from November 19 to 20, internal U.S. debates—which often played out publicly—focused on ballistic missile defense research and testing under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, including “narrow vs. broad” interpretations thereof. Discussions intensified following [Page VIII] Gorbachev’s proposal in January 1986 to eliminate all nuclear weapons by the year 2000; Reagan’s July 1986 proposal laying out three five-year phases to achieve a similar objective; and the two leaders’ dramatic encounter in Reykjavik the weekend of October 11–12, 1986.

The Reagan administration’s pursuit of SDI during 1985 and 1986 complemented its strategic modernization program, announced on October 1, 1981, featuring the Peacekeeper (“MX”) Missile, D5 (“Trident II”) Missile, and the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB, or “B–2 Bomber”), among other systems. On May 27, 1986, Reagan publicly declared his intention to no longer adhere to a policy of “Interim Restraint,” under which the United States had respected the terms of the unratified 1979 “Treaty Between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms” (SALT II). He also announced that, by the end of the year, the United States would exceed the numerical limits of SALT II.

On November 3, 1986, Reagan signed National Security Directive Decision (NSDD) 250 instructing his national security team to provide options for a transition toward a world free of offensive ballistic missiles, setting off a series of vigorous interactions among the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of State, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and members of the National Security Council Staff. Coinciding with cuts to the defense budget in the form of automatic sequesters resulting from the 1985 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act, as well as the Republican Party’s loss of the Senate in elections held on November 4, 1986, NSDD–250 foreshadowed equally contentious debates in 1987 over how to preserve funding for SDI and complete the strategic modernization program. The volume concludes with the 5-year review of the ABM Treaty in 1988, during which the Reagan administration declared that the Soviet Union was in violation of the treaty yet stopped short of describing the Soviets’ Krasnoyarsk Radar or other violations as a “material breach.”

The volume also documents the views of influential advisers such as Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State on Arms Control Matters Paul Nitze and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Fred Ikle, as well as other key national security principals and officials.

Acknowledgments

The Office of the Historian wishes to thank the interagency declassification personnel who conducted the review of this volume, including those at the Department of State, Office of Classification Policy and Declassification Review (A/SKS/IAP/CD); the FRUS Coordination Team at the Central Intelligence Agency; the OSD, Records and Declassification Division (RDD) at the Department of Defense; and the [Page IX] Directorate of Records Access and Information Security Management at the National Security Council.

The editor wishes to acknowledge the assistance of officials at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, especially Cate Sewell and Lisa Magana; the Library of Congress, especially Jeffrey Flannery and Ernest Emrich; and the National Security Council, especially Tom Lutte. Thanks are also due to the Central Intelligence Agency for arranging access to the Reagan Library materials scanned for the Remote Archive Capture project. The History Staff of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, was accommodating in arranging full access to the files of the Central Intelligence Agency; Sandy Meagher was helpful in providing access to Department of Defense materials. The editor also thanks the staff at the National Archives and Records Administration facility in College Park, Maryland, for their valuable assistance. The editor wishes to extend special thanks to Joel Christenson, Edward Keefer, Erin Mahan, and Steven Phillips of the Historical Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

James Graham Wilson collected and selected documentation and edited the volume under the supervision of Kathleen Rasmussen, then Chief of the Global Issues and General Division. The volume was reviewed by Kathleen Rasmussen and Kristin Ahlberg, the Assistant General Editor of the Foreign Relations series. Chris Tudda coordinated the declassification review under the supervision of the Carl Ashley, Team Lead of the Declassification Coordination Team. Kerry Hite performed the copy and technical editing under the supervision of Mandy Chalou, Team Lead of the Editing and Publishing Team. Both the declassification review and technical editing were conducted under the supervision of John Powers, Director of the Declassification Coordination, Publishing, and Digital Initiatives Division.