Office of the Historian

114. Memorandum From Jeffrey Starr of the Delegation to the Nuclear and Space Talks in Geneva to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Lehman)1

Geneva, May 9, 1990

SUBJECT

  • Outstanding START Issues

As requested, attached is the list of 32 issues which the Secretary and the Soviet Foreign Minister agreed in April to attempt to resolve in Geneva before the next ministerial. You should be aware also that Ambassadors Burt and Nazarkin have agreed to expand the 32 issues list to 50 issues. The Delegation has drawn up a list of additional issues and will begin discussions with the Soviets tomorrow on it. There is no formal list of issues, internal or agreed, to be resolved by the time of the summit; in fact, there has been some reluctance to draw up such a list. Nonetheless, a list of other outstanding START issues is attached.

Attachment

Paper Prepared in the Delegation to the Nuclear and Space Talks in Geneva2

Geneva, undated

32 ISSUES

As Agreed by The Secretary and The Soviet Foreign Minister at the April Ministerial in Washington

1.
Definition of new types of strategic offensive arms
2.
Warhead attribution for future types of ballistic missiles
3.
Basing terminology
4.
Sublimits on mobile ICBM launchers and on warheads on mobile ICBMs
5.
Launchers on newly constructed submarines which have not yet begun sea trials
6.
Phasing of reductions of strategic offensive arms
7.
Provisions regarding initial accountability under the treaty
8.
Prohibition on rapid reload
9.
Cooperative measures to assist National Technical Means
10.
Restrictions on test and training launchers
11.
Telemetry issues: data exchange, exemptions from the encapsulation ban, signal strength
12.
Strategic R&D boosters
13.
Questions related to mobile ICBMs, including basing areas, categories of movements and verification
14.
Launchers on submarines undergoing overhaul and conversion
15.
ICBM and SLBM warhead sublimits
16.
Perimeter/Portal Continuous Monitoring, including the establishment thereof
17.
Suspect-site inspection
18.
New kinds: ASBMs, ICCMs
19.
Use of the terms “produce” and “develop”
20.
Non-deployment of strategic offensive arms beyond the national territory and verification thereof
21.
Vehicles for launching objects into the upper atmosphere or space, and limitations on the use of such vehicles
22.
Non-deployed missiles and the conversion or elimination of such missiles
23.
Non-circumvention
24.
Duration
25.
Support equipment
26.
Throw-weight
27.
Unique identifiers
28.
Pre-inspection movement restrictions
29.
Definition of “inspection site”
30.
Precision of coordinates in the MOU
31.
Procedures for inspection before destruction of missiles in canisters
32.
Restructuring of the Inspection Protocol
[Page 675]

Attachment

Paper Prepared in the Delegation to the Nuclear and Space Talks in Geneva3

Geneva, undated

OUTSTANDING START ISSUES NOT ON 32 ISSUES LIST

Major Issues

1.
ALCMs
2.
SLCMs
3.
Follow-on negotiations
4.
Heavy ICBMs

Other Issues

1.
Heavy bomber definiton
2.
Former heavy bomber definition
3.
Elimination of warheads
  1. Source: Department of State, Verification, Compliance and Implementation, Lot 06D436, Verification, Compliance and Implementation Subject Files, 1983–2005, Ministerials: Washington April 4–6 1990. Secret.↩
  2. Secret.↩
  3. Secret.↩