U.S. Defines ‘Star Wars’ Role in Talks : Aides Say Plan Will Be on Table but Is No ‘Bargaining Chip’

Key Reagan Administration officials on Saturday sought to explain how the controversial U.S. space-based defense program will be on the “bargaining table” at the coming space arms negotiations with the Soviet Union but will still not be a “bargaining chip” that might be “bargained away.”

Retired Gen. Edward L. Rowny, who led the U.S. delegation to the strategic arms reduction talks, maintained that “there is a difference between a bargaining chip and bargaining pressure or bargaining leverage. Bargaining chip implies that you’re going in with the intent to give up something.

“We don’t deal in bargaining chips,” he added. “We don’t produce systems to be bargained away.”

Leverage Toward Agreement The thrust of Rowny’s remarks, on a Cable News Network interview program, was that U.S. negotiators intend only to talk about the missile defense research effort, without trading it for any Soviet concession. At the same time, he seemed also to be suggesting that the space-based missile defense--which the Administration calls the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and the press has nicknamed “Star Wars”--will provide leverage and pressure on the Soviets to come to some agreement.

In the research program for space-based defenses, scientists are making an intensive study of lasers and other “beams” in hopes of creating non-nuclear systems that could destroy enemy warheads in space and the atmosphere. The Administration proposes to spend $26 billion over the next five years on the program.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger also insisted that “SDI is not a bargaining chip,” and then added a new twist. “We don’t regard SDI as an arms system,” he said, implying that it does not come within the scope of the negotiations on “space arms.”

“It is a system designed to destroy arms,” Weinberger said on another Cable News Network program. “It is not a weapons system, not designed to kill people. So our proceeding with the Strategic Defense Initiative is not participating in an arms race.”

Gerold Yonas, chief scientist and deputy director of the research program, defended the expenditures for space-based defenses at a symposium of the Academy of Scientists on Saturday, saying the money would be well spent if it deters Soviet aggression.

‘Surrender or Retaliate’ Other than the threat of massive retaliation, Yonas said, the United States has no defense against a missile attack. “Now if the Soviets continue their buildup, our vulnerability and the vulnerability of our allies to blackmail becomes quite high,” he continued. “In addition, if massive deterence fails, our President’s only recourse would be to surrender or to retaliate, resulting in the loss of millions of lives.”

Critics of an SDI-type space defense shield argue that it would provide a huge U.S. advantage in the nuclear weapon balance. They fear that Moscow might be tempted to strike before such a defense network is in place rather than accept inferiority once it is fully operational, and therefore they see the program as increasing, rather than reducing, the chances for war.

Treaty Permits Research Weinberger said he does “not foresee anything” that would limit or stop the U.S. reasearch program, since “you can’t verify or stop research” even if an agreement to curb space-based defenses could be negotiated.

The research program is permitted under the existing Soviet-American anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty of 1972. The Soviets have long supported an extensive missile defense research effort. The ABM treaty bars testing of components of an anti-missile system and the system itself.

On another issue open to dispute, both Weinberger and Rowny said the Soviets have agreed to negotiate on a very broadly defined concept of “space arms,” which would include weapons, whether based on earth or in space, that could be directed at targets in space.

Such a comprehensive definition covers Soviet anti-aircraft (surface-to-air) missiles that have limited ability to destroy intermediate-range missiles as well as long-range bombers and cruise missiles. It also covers anti-satellite weapons.