Reagan Warns Soviets on SALT II Compliance : Will Scrap 2 Subs but May Drop Accord Unless Moscow Improves Record, Speeds Arms Control

President Reagan announced Tuesday that he will continue to comply with the second strategic arms limitation treaty by dismantling two aging nuclear submarines, but he also served notice that he will cast aside the controversial agreement later this year unless Moscow improves its compliance record and takes serious steps toward further arms control.

As evidence of what Administration officials say is a toughening attitude toward the SALT II treaty, which Washington and Moscow have agreed to honor even though it has never been ratified by the U.S. Senate, Reagan stressed his commitment to press ahead with a B-52 modernization program under which the heavy bombers are being outfitted to carry cruise missiles.

B-52 Will Exceed Limit

When the 131st modernized B-52 comes off the assembly line late this year, the United States will exceed limits set by the treaty and will be in violation even when the submarines are dismantled. SALT II set a limit of 1,200 long-range nuclear missile launchers, and a ceiling of 1,320 multiple-warhead missiles and long-range bombers carrying cruise missiles.

Nevertheless, despite pressure from conservatives to scuttle the treaty, the long-awaited presidential decision on the two Poseidon nuclear submarines keeps the United States in “technical compliance” with the terms of the treaty for at least the next several months.

Reagan often has couched moderate actions in conservative rhetoric, and, on the surface, Tuesday’s announcement would appear to fit this pattern. But a White House official who requested anonymity said the President’s remarks represent “a sea change” in the Administration’s thinking on national security and arms control.

“SALT II will no longer be a benchmark,” the official said. “The key is whether the Soviets are showing mutual restraint.”

This official declared that the treaty, which dates back to 1979, is effectively dead. He called it “a useful guideline” that has become “a political football” in recent years as Reagan’s liberal and conservative critics alike portrayed it as a litmus test of the Administration’s stance on arms control.

Similarly, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the dismantling of the two Poseidons was strictly “an economic-military decision,” and not an effort to extend the Administration’s compliance with the arms treaty. The reactor cores of both vessels are exhausted and Administration officials have said for some time that it would not be cost effective to refurbish them for service.

The Administration’s new approach could be characterized in laymen’s language as “tit for tat,” a White House official said. But White House planners preferred to call it “mutual restraint” and “rational force planning” to indicate that national security decisions will henceforth be made in a “toughened” environment and based on a combination of U.S. self-interest and Soviet behavior.

Cranston Comments

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), a leading proponent of arms control, interpreted the White House announcement as “good news and bad news.” He praised Reagan’s decision to dismantle the Poseidons but said the Administration’s ominous talk about abandoning the treaty would only invite a similar response from the Kremlin. Cranston said in a statement that the treaty “may be the only buffer the planet has protecting us from a pell-mell rush for new weapons by both superpowers.”

Reagan did leave himself some flexibility. In a written statement released to the press, the President said he hopes that the Soviet Union “will use this time to take constructive steps to alter the current situation. Should they do so, we will certainly take this into account.”

Officials said the criteria for reassessing Reagan’s decision would be Soviet compliance with SALT II, a halt in Moscow’s arms buildup and progress at the negotiating table in Geneva.

Even so, it is considered extremely unlikely that Reagan would pull back on the decision to deploy the modernized B-52s with cruise missiles. Instead, he could call for dismantling another Poseidon or take other steps to retire aging equipment to maintain technical compliance.

Reagan Resolve Stressed

Although the gist of the decision announced Tuesday had been reported in the media, the Administration went to unusual lengths to cast it as another example of Reagan standing up to the Soviets. A 10-page “fact sheet” and a lengthy written presidential statement stressed the approaching U.S. violation and not the still-existing policy of abiding by the treaty.

Campaigning for the presidency in 1980, Reagan called the SALT II treaty “fatally flawed” because it established ceilings for missile launchers and warheads that were high enough to permit a substantial increase in superpower arsenals. The treaty, which was negotiated by former President Jimmy Carter, was withdrawn from Senate consideration after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December, 1979.

Critics who contend that the treaty has outlived its usefulness point to the fact that it would have expired five months ago even if it had been ratified.

In June, 1985, Reagan announced that he would go “the extra mile” and dismantle a Poseidon submarine to keep the United States in compliance with the treaty. His decision then was greeted as an extraordinary step for a conservative President.