Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency report, dated 1 June 1984 and marked unclassified for official use only, reviews how Soviet leaders and media treated President Reagan from November 1980 through May 1984. It finds that Moscow twice moderated its rhetoric to test prospects for better relations, and that attacks became the most abusive in two decades after the South Korean airliner shootdown. The report compiles authoritative Soviet statements and midlevel and routine media commentary as a baseline for analysts.
“Harder”1 page
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Document 1 of 2 AGAL Concatenated Database 230. Some people . . . would like to turn space into a bridgehead of aggression and war. It is clear from U.S. announcements that it plans to deploy antimissile weapons in space, give scope to the operation of various sorts of antisatellite systems, and deploy super-new types of weapons designed for dealing strikes against targets on land, in the air, and at sea. 231. The Soviet Union is a firm opponent of competition in the race of any kind of armaments, including space weapons. 232. At the same time it should be understood that in the face of a threat from space the Soviet Union will be forced to take measures in order to guarantee its security reliably. Calculations that it is possible to lay the road to military superiority through space are built on illusions. However, they do not want to give up such calculations and this is fraught with extremely dangerous consequences. To prevent such a train of events, before it is too late, is the direct duty of responsible state figures, scientists, of all who are really concerned for the future of mankind. 233. The Soviet Union again confirms that it is ready to make maximum efforts to see that sinister plans for transferring the arms race into space do not become reality. It is our conviction that a policy aimed at safely protecting space from the deployment of weapons should be the compulsory norm of conduct of states, a universally recognized international obligation. 234. We are resolutely against the development of large-scale antimissile defense systems, which cannot be regarded otherwise than as calculated for the unpunished implementation of nuclear aggression. There is a Soviet-American treaty on antimissile defense, without time-limit, banning the creation of such systems. It must be strictly observed. The solemn renunciation of the very idea of the deployment in space of antimissile systems would meet the spirit and letter of this treaty and the task of ensuring a peaceful status of outer space in the interests of all mankind. Such a step would be interpreted everywhere in the world as a manifestation of genuine concern for the peaceful future of mankind. 235. The matter of banning antisatellite weapons is also urgent. Deployment of such weapons would result in sharp destabilization of the situation, to an increased threat of sudden attack, and would undermine the efforts for ensuring trust between nuclear states. 236. Gromyko, speech at luncheon for West German Foreign Minister Genscher (TASS, 21 May 84) 237. The United States Administration is absolutely clearly banking on confrontation and arbitrariness in international relations, on
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 56 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.