Reykjavik Talks Not Slipshod, Official Says : U.S. Cautious About Offers to Soviets: Official

A Pentagon official today defended the Reagan Administration’s handling of the Reykjavik summit and subsequent negotiations with the Soviet Union, saying American offers have been carefully planned and not reckless as critics have charged.

“I reject the notion that Reykjavik was conducted in a slipshod manner,” Richard N. Perle, an assistant secretary of defense and prominent arms control hard-liner, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

“There was a great deal of careful deliberation. We went there . . . uncertain of what the Soviets would propose.”

Committee Chairman Les Aspin (D-Wis.) called the arms negotiation process “slipshod,” specifically criticizing the Administration’s failure to check first with the military Joint Chiefs of Staff before making its final offer in Iceland.

‘Things . . . Tossed Around’

“A lot of people were aghast at the casual way in which things were tossed around,” Aspin said.

“When you are trying to do something that is new and innovative, it is not always possible to do the kind of detailed analysis you seem to have in mind,” Perle responded.

Aspin also charged that six weeks after the summit, the Administration is still unclear on what its negotiating position is, particularly on whether it includes a proposal to eliminate all nuclear ballistic missiles by 1996.

“There is big disarray among our allies on this fundamental thing,” Aspin said, citing a statement earlier this week by Secretary of State George P. Shultz that each side might keep a few missiles on hand.

“Everywhere around the edges, people are bailing out on it,” Aspin said.

“We are not, in the Administration, trained seals,” Perle responded.