301. Draft Paper1
JOINT STATEMENT OF AGREED OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES AFFECTING THE LIMITATION AND SUBSEQUENT REDUCTION IN STRATEGIC ARMAMENTS
The President of the United States of America and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have exchanged views during the last few years on the question of restraining the strategic arms race.
In the last few months of this exchange they took note of the action of the Conference of Non-Nuclear Weapon States and of the XXIIId General Assembly of the United Nations urging the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of the United States of America to enter into bilateral discussions on the limitation of offensive and defensive strategic armaments at an early date.
As a result of the exchange of views on this subject, the two sides have arrived at a conclusion on the desirability and feasibility of achieving a mutually acceptable understanding on this question. They have also arrived at a conclusion that the implementation of measures to restrain the strategic arms race would serve the interests of both countries as well as the interests of strengthening international security, and that this would also generate more favorable conditions for solving other major issues in the field of disarmament.
It was agreed that there should be established basic principles affecting the limitation and subsequent reduction in strategic armaments and that the general objectives of our two countries in this field should be formulated.
Specifically, it was agreed that the two sides would be guided by the following general objectives:
- —To maintain a stable U.S.-Soviet strategic deterrence by agreed limitations on the deployment of offensive and defensive strategic armaments.
- —To enhance the credibility of our efforts to prevent the destabilizing actions of other nations by demonstrating Soviet and U.S. willingness to limit their strategic armaments.
- —To provide mutual assurance to each of us that our security will be maintained, while at the same time avoiding the tensions, uncertainties, and costs of an unrestrained continuation of the strategic arms race.
- —To improve U.S.-Soviet understanding by establishing a continuing process of discussion of issues arising from the strategic situation.
At the same time it was agreed that the task of limiting and subsequently reducing strategic armaments should be resolved in compliance with the following basic principles:
- (1)
- Giving due regard for the integral inter-connection of the two principal components of strategic armaments, i.e., offensive and defensive weapons systems, the limitation and reduction in strategic armaments should be carried out as a complex including both offensive and defensive weapons systems.
- (2)
- The limitation and reduction in strategic armaments should be so balanced that neither side could obtain any military advantage and that security should be assured equally for both sides.
It was agreed that [special delegations of]2 the two governments, guided by the above-mentioned objectives and principles, would promptly address themselves to [devising an agreement on] the concrete aspects of the problem of limiting and reducing strategic armaments.
It was also agreed that the two governments, along with the development of measures to limit and reduce strategic armaments, would study the question of taking steps to minimize the possible accidental appearance of conflict-fraught situations involving the use of strategic armaments.
- Source: Johnson Library, Clifford Papers, Soviet Union, Talks on Reduction of Strategic Nuclear Weapons, Box 17-18. Top Secret. A handwritten note on the source text reads: “SecDef has seen 13 Jan 1969.”↩
- Regarding the brackets in this paragraph, which appear in the source text, see the last paragraph of Document 300.2↩