55. Personal Note Prepared by the Deputy Secretary of State (Dam)1
[Omitted here is material not related to START.]
At 10 o’clock my arms control discussion group met.2 General Scowcroft attended. He is currently heading the MX Commission.3 We discussed what the Commission might report and what impact it might have on arms control. It is clear that the interest in arms control is very high on Capitol Hill, although the content of the concerns and hopes appears to be low. Part of the reason is that the Republicans are concerned about the 1984 election and feel that the President needs some breakthrough on the arms control front, but the Republican Members fear that the Administration is not serious about arms control negotiations. Recently there was a test of a new Soviet missile, giving rise to concerns about the possibility that the Soviets might be in violation, at least in spirit, of the provision in the SALT II agreement providing for only one new missile. Meanwhile, it is expected that the MX Commission will recommend deployment of MX missiles, perhaps only 50 as opposed to the 100 originally planned, in Minuteman silos with development and eventual deployment of a new small mobile missile system. That would mean that the United States would have two new types. Obviously this recommendation, which is an alternative to closely spaced basing and in particular to the dense pack approach, will run into objections that it is in violation of SALT II. This will be true even though the small mobile missile cannot be deployed until long after SALT II would have expired by its terms.
[Omitted here is material not related to START.]
- Source: Department of State, Executive Secretariat, S/S–I Records: Deputy Secretary Dam’s Official Files, Lot 85D308, Personal Notes of Deputy Secretary—Kenneth W. Dam—Oct. 1982—Sept. 1983. Secret. Dictated on February 28.↩
- No other record of this meeting was found.↩
- Reference is to the President’s Commission on Strategic Forces, which Reagan established on January 3 to “review the strategic modernization program with particular focus on our land-based intercontinental ballistic missile and basing alternatives for that system.” (“Statement Announcing the Establishment and Membership of the President’s Commission on Strategic Forces, and Designation of Chairman and Vice Chairman,” Public Papers: Reagan, 1983, vol. I, pp. 4–5) Documentation pertaining to the President’s Commission on Strategic Forces is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, vol. XLIII, National Security Policy, 1981–1984.↩