Nunn Gets Tough

Sen. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and champion of a strong defense establishment, is a determined man. President Reagan is learning the hard way that when the Georgia Democrat demanded that the Administration abandon its broad, permissive interpretation of the 1972 ABM treaty, he meant what he said.

The military authorization bill now before the Senate includes a Nunn-backed provision, similar to one approved by the House last Wednesday, that would require the Administration to obtain explicit congressional authorization before conducting “Star Wars” tests in space in violation of the narrower, traditional interpretation of the treaty. The President threatens to veto the bill if this and other restrictions on presidential authority are still in the measure when it reaches the White House.

Even if there is such a veto and it is upheld, Nunn has another strategem that should give the Administration pause. He has warned that when and if Reagan submits a medium-range Euromissile treaty for ratification, he will demand access to the secret negotiating record so that the Senate will not have to rely on Administration testimony in judging the treaty’s intent.

Since submission of the negotiating record could lead to endless complications that could seriously delay or prevent ratification, the Administration understandably would be loath to make it available.

But Nunn makes the persuasive point that the Administration’s reinterpretation of the ABM treaty has made such a disclosure necessary in all future arms-control agreements.

In justifying a broader interpretation of the ABM treaty, the Administration claims that it is bound not by the explanations made to the U.S. Senate by the Nixon Administration, but by what the American and Soviet negotiators said to each other. Leaving aside the question of what the record actually shows, the Administration’s logic forewarns the Senate that, in the absence of access to the negotiating record, future Administration explanations of the Euromissile treaty cannot be relied upon either.

Nunn’s real purpose, however, is not to force secret negotiating records into the open--which could be counterproductive to arms control--but to make the President recognize the Senate’s constitutional right to insist on adherence to treaty interpretations as submitted before ratification. More specifically, he wants to head off any “Star Wars” testing in violation of the ABM treaty as it was explained to the Senate in 1972.

A U.S.-Soviet agreement to eliminate medium-range missiles from Europe would be a major accomplishment in its own right; such a pact could also open the way for progress in the far more important area of strategic missiles.

It would be unfortunate if Reagan were to create a needless roadblock by ignoring the clear message from Capitol Hill that, in the absence of congressional authorization or renegotiation of the treaty, the “Star Wars” program must not go beyond the bounds set by the ABM agreement 15 years ago.