187. Memorandum for the Record by the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1
SUBJECT
- Principal Points Raised by Ambassador Dobrynin During Lunch on Friday, October 14, 1977
1. What are the priorities of this Administration, notably the President, in regards to existing differences between the U.S. and Soviet positions in SALT (I told Dobrynin that while all of the conflicting issues are of importance to us, the two points with which I would begin would be ICBM modernization and the 1200 MIRV sublimit).
2. He expressed concern about implications for SALT of the FB111–H decisions (I told him this was not an Administration policy).
3. He expressed the thought that once SALT II has been successfully completed, there may be a need for an intermediate forum to deal with issues which are covered neither in SALT nor in MBFR.
4. He asked if we would be tempted to delay artificially SALT ratification because of the pressure of other business, such as Panama, the Middle East, etc.
5. We discussed the Middle East, and I urged him to use Soviet influence to obtain Syrian cooperation.
6. He said that he was convinced initially that the President genuinely desired reductions in nuclear arms, but Brezhnev and others felt that our March proposals were completely one-sided.
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 56, SALT: Chronology: 10/5/77–11/22/77. No classification marking.↩