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-5- One is the importance of exposing and challenging the more dangerous elements in the recent Gorbachev proposals. I am particularly concerned about the proposed restrictions which would affect the United Kingdom and France : a freeze on third country nuclear systems and a ban on transfer of strategic and medium range missiles. These would be seriously damaging to our national and to Alliance security and must be rejected. I was very glad to hear from Paul Nitze that you had identified these points as major objections to the Gorbachev proposals. But I also have considerable misgivings about giving him any encouragement now to believe that our forces could later be brought into the process on any but the conditions we have specified ourselves. I trust that you will be able in your reply to avoid raising his expectations on that score. A second point is the need to persuade Gorbachev to negotiate seriously in other arms control fields. As you know I am particularly concerned about chemical weapons where it seems to me that the Alliance is at the great disadvantage of having no credible response to a chemical attach other than nuclear retaliation. I hope that we can' work closely together to overcome remaining differences on verification in the draft Treaty tabled by George Bush in 1984, so that we can have a strong and united Alliance negotiating position. The recent Western initiative also opens the prospect of making some progress on MBFR. Thirdly there is the question of Treaty compliance. As you know I regarded your decision last June to continue to adhere to SAL restraints as an important act of statesmanship. I hope that you will feel able to maintain that position, which earned the United States enormous respect. Continued restraint will also be important in building public support for the US negotiating position in Geneva. It was good of you to send Paul Nitze to brief me on your latest thinking. While I fully support the general approach of your proposed reply to Gorbachev's proposals, I have - as Paul Nitze will have told you - anxieties about your ideas on INF. The zero- /zero

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    "ocrText": "-5-\nOne is the importance of exposing and challenging the more dangerous\nelements in the recent Gorbachev proposals. I am particularly\nconcerned about the proposed restrictions which would affect the\nUnited Kingdom and France : a freeze on third country nuclear systems\nand a ban on transfer of strategic and medium range missiles. These\nwould be seriously damaging to our national and to Alliance security\nand must be rejected. I was very glad to hear from Paul Nitze that\nyou had identified these points as major objections to the Gorbachev\nproposals. But I also have considerable misgivings about giving him\nany encouragement now to believe that our forces could later be\nbrought into the process on any but the conditions we have specified\nourselves. I trust that you will be able in your reply to avoid\nraising his expectations on that score.\nA second point is the need to persuade Gorbachev to negotiate\nseriously in other arms control fields. As you know I am particularly\nconcerned about chemical weapons where it seems to me that the Alliance\nis at the great disadvantage of having no credible response to a\nchemical attach other than nuclear retaliation. I hope that we can'\nwork closely together to overcome remaining differences on verification\nin the draft Treaty tabled by George Bush in 1984, so that we can have\na strong and united Alliance negotiating position. The recent Western\ninitiative also opens the prospect of making some progress on MBFR.\nThirdly there is the question of Treaty compliance. As you know I\nregarded your decision last June to continue to adhere to SAL\nrestraints as an important act of statesmanship. I hope that you\nwill feel able to maintain that position, which earned the United\nStates enormous respect. Continued restraint will also be important\nin building public support for the US negotiating position in Geneva.\nIt was good of you to send Paul Nitze to brief me on your latest\nthinking. While I fully support the general approach of your\nproposed reply to Gorbachev's proposals, I have - as Paul Nitze\nwill have told you - anxieties about your ideas on INF. The zero-\n/zero"
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