U.S. hints at wide view of treaty

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 8

U.S. hints at wide view of treaty

NZPA-Reuter Washington

President Ronald Reagan will decide within months whether to conduct extensive “star wars” testing under a broad interpretation of the AntiBallistic Missile (A.8.M.) treaty, says the Defence Secretary, Caspar Weinberger.

Mr Weinberger’s prediction to Congress yesterday came after the White House denied charges by the Soviet Leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, that United States negotiators at super-Power arms talks in Geneva had proposed moving ahead with a liberal interpretation of the 1972 A.B.M. anti-missile accord.

Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr Weinberger strongly suggested that the Administration was moving toward implementing the less restrictive A.B.M. interpretation.

“The President, in 1985, thought that the broad, legally correct interpretation was the one we should use, as indeed

would be the one we would use ... and now we’re moving rapidly toward the proper interpretation,” Mr Weinberger said. The broad view argues that there are no limits on the testing and development of so-called futuristic systems. The traditional view is that A.B.M. bans such activity whether or not the technology in question existed when the treaty was signed. The less restrictive view, the Administration argues, would allow extensive testing of “star wars,” the missile defence system formally known as the Strategic Defence Initiative.

Mr Weinberger told the panel that he planned in the next few weeks to give Mr Reagan a list of tests allowed under the broad interpretation, and expected a presidential decision “in the next few months.” The Administration has said there is legal basis for a permissive interpretation, while critics of the change, including some A.B.M. negotiators,

say the treaty would be breached.

The Administration’s suggested reinterpretation of the A.B.M. treaty, the only operative major arms control accord between the super-Pcvets, has also caused concern among European allies. The British Defence Minister, George Younger, visiting Washington yesterday, said his Government wanted to read “the fine print” on any plan to broaden A.B.M. interpretation. He later met Mr Weinberger and was apparently assured of consultation.

In a related development yesterday, the Senate approved a resolution -supporting Mr Reagan’s arms control efforts and warning Moscow not to link progress on an arms control accord to strategic defence technologies — a reference to "star wars.”

The resolution did not specifically mention the A.B.M. treaty but urged Mr Reagan to consult American allies and the Senate in negotiating an arms control pact with the Soviet Union.