ABM Decision Not Due Soon, Congress Is Told

As the United States prepared to consult its allies on how the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty should be interpreted, the Administration told congressional leaders Tuesday that President Reagan is unlikely to decide the controversial matter until “late spring or early summer.”

Last month, Reagan appeared to be on the verge of officially adopting a broad interpretation of the treaty that would allow testing of potential weapons for the Strategic Defense Initiative--Reagan’s so-called “Star Wars” missile defense program. Currently, only research on anti-missile defenses--not testing--is permitted under the narrow interpretation that now governs the scope of the initiative.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said Tuesday that assurances have been given “that a final presidential decision about whether to adjust the (Strategic Defense Initiative) program to the broad interpretation will await the consultation process. We’ve also been informed that the approximate time frame would be sometime in the late spring or early summer of the year.”

The treaty forbids national anti-missile networks, allowing only 100 ABM missiles on each side and restricting further missile defenses to research. However, it does not contain specific provisions that apply to technology developed on the basis of “other physical principles,” saying only that such systems would be “subject to discussion.”

Allies and many congressional and non-government experts have expressed alarm that a broader definition of the ABM treaty that would permit SDI testing also would abrogate the treaty, the cornerstone of nuclear arms control of the last 15 years. Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov warned Sunday that “this broad interpretation kills the treaty.”

Nunn complained to the President on Feb. 6 that reinterpreting the treaty without consulting Congress would result in a “constitutional confrontation of profound dimensions” that would change the basis on which the Senate had ratified the treaty and made it U.S. law.

In addition, he noted that Reagan had promised to consult British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and other allies before making any official revision of the treaty and alteration in the SDI program. The Administration announced last year that the broad interpretation is legally correct but said that it would continue abiding by the narrow interpretation for the time being.

On Tuesday, the Administration sent its senior U.S. arms control adviser, Ambassador Paul H. Nitze, and Assistant Defense Secretary Richard N. Perle to consult with the House and Senate before the officials flew to Europe to begin a 10-day round of talks with U.S. allies.

House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) said he told the Administration officials that most Congress members oppose the new interpretation and warned that if the Administration persists, SDI funds may be cut.

“The Congress can’t negotiate,” he said. “Likewise, the President cannot appropriate.” He added that his message to the White House is: “Cool it.”

Matter of Months

Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) echoed Nunn’s report that the timetable for a decision on the issue has been extended. “The allies should understand, the Administration should understand and the American people should understand that consultations will be a matter of several months, not a matter of weeks,” said Byrd, who attended the meeting with Nitze and Perle.

The Nitze-Perle mission and a similar one to Asia by Gen. Edward L. Rowny, another Administration arms expert, followed the President’s signature last Tuesday on a national security directive on the reinterpretation issue. It ordered a three-phase study of the written record on the treaty to be completed by May.

Times staff writers Sara Fritz and Karen Tumulty contributed to this story.