U.S. May Drop Curbs of SALT II : Will Break Missile Accord if Moscow Does, Reagan Says

President Reagan raised the possibility Friday that the United States would break its agreement with the Soviet Union limiting long-range nuclear weapons and said that if the Kremlin has violated the unratified SALT II pact, “then there’s no need for us to continue” to abide by it.

Reagan’s statement, made at a news conference in Lisbon just before he flew home to Washington at the end of his 10-day European tour raised questions about his intentions.

One Defense Department official, speaking on the condition that he not be identified, said it appeared to move the United States closer to acknowledging that it would abandon at least one key element of the agreement limiting each nation’s intercontinental ballistic missiles.

No Shift From Policy

An official of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency asserted that Reagan has not shifted from a 1982 policy that states the United States will not undercut the existing agreement as long as the Soviets “exercise similar restraint.”

The United States and the Soviet Union have reached two strategic arms limitation treaties governing the deployment of strategic, or long-range, nuclear-armed weapons. The second pact has never been ratified by the Senate, although both nations have agreed verbally to adhere to its terms.

But Reagan--reflecting his Administration’s contention that the Soviets already may have broken that agreement or are about to with the deployment of a new missile--declared: “There’s considerable evidence now that (adherence) has been rather one-sided. If it has been, then there’s no need for us to continue.”

Decision Due Later

Such a decision would be “made down the road,” he noted, adding: “Actually, we have not come to a point in which we in any way in our own buildup are violating or going beyond the terms of that treaty. It is possible in regard to one system of weapons that we might come to such a point. And we’ll make that decision then--and if we do, we’ll do it openly and we will do it with full knowledge of the Soviet Union.”

The Pentagon official said it was unclear to what weapon Reagan was referring. However, the Navy is scheduled to send a new Trident submarine to sea trials within a few months, placing the United States in violation of the SALT II limit of 1,200 long-range ballistic missiles, unless another submarine--most likely an older-model, missile-carrying Poseidon--is retired.

“A decision is going to have to be made before the sea trials,” the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency official said, adding that he does not think the Administration is likely to put off the sea trials to avoid making the decision.

In addition, the Administration must decide whether to extend the SALT II agreement after it expires at the end of the year.

Robert E. Hunter, director of European studies at Georgetown University’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Reagan appeared to “testing the water,” awaiting the reaction of Western European allies and U.S. liberals before actually deciding whether to violate the agreement.

“When the time comes, the President will have his arm twisted and agree” to abide by the terms of the treaty, predicted Hunter, a member of the National Security Council in the Jimmy Carter Administration. “He’s bargaining. He’s a poker player.”

If Reagan fails to live up to the terms of the treaty he would lose credibility, Hunter said, and would damage the U.S. position in the renewed negotiations in Geneva that are intended to bring about agreements limiting space-based, long-range and short-range weapons.

The question of violating the SALT II treaty arose Tuesday when Assistant Defense Secretary Richard N. Perle told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he personally believes that the United States should ignore the missile limits, rather than retire old weapons, and refuse to observe the treaty limits beyond the Dec. 31 expiration date.