103. Briefing Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs (Ridgway) to Secretary of State Shultz1
SUBJECT
- The President’s 9 AM Pre-brief for his Meeting with Shevardnadze, Oval Office, September 27.
An hour has been set aside to pre-brief the President for his meeting and luncheon with Shevardnadze.2 The Vice President, Don Regan, and Bud McFarlane will join you along with Art Hartman, Paul Nitze, Jack Matlock, and I.
I suggest you use the meeting to raise both procedural and substantive points. Procedurally, it is still unclear who will brief the press following the President’s luncheon. The NSC staff is unclear as to whether or not Bud wants to do it. We suggest that you tell the pre-brief participants that you are prepared to follow last year’s precedent and provide a half-hour briefing in the White House press room at 2:00.
You should also be aware that Bud has called a SACG meeting for 4:30 to debrief the arms control community on the Soviet arms control proposal and plan follow-up action. I suggest that you put down a marker at the pre-brief that, while it will be important to do a comprehensive analysis of the Soviet ideas, the Administration will need to speak with one voice in giving both our public and private reactions. We do not want OSD or others issuing a preemptive response which limits our flexibility.
Bud and Art Hartman debriefed the President Thursday morning on your meeting with Shevardnadze in New York.3 Most of the discussion centered on arms control and how the President should handle the letter which Shevardnadze is bringing from Gorbachev containing [Page 425] the new Soviet arms control proposal.4 Since the Soviets have indicated that the letter is quite long and technical, it was agreed that the President should ask Shevardnadze to summarize it but not get into a detailed discussion. We would in any case want to see what the Soviets say about their proposal next week in Geneva before getting back to them in detail.
The President asked whether he should use tomorrow’s meeting to preview his approach to the November meeting with Gorbachev in Geneva. Art Hartman and others encouraged him to do so. Bud has provided the President with a hefty package of briefing material pulled together by Jack Matlock (at Tab 1).5 The proposed talking points reflect broadly the material prepared for your use. You should be aware, however, that separate note cards are being done for the President which may or may not track with this material.
I suggest you use the prebrief to reinforce three points:
—As he did with Gromyko last year, the President should emphasize his desire to do serious business if the Soviets are ready to reciprocate.
—The President should respond to the new Soviet arms control proposal with a strong statement of his own commitment to meaningful arms control, explaining to Shevardnadze his views on the need for deep reductions and the potential promise of SDI research.
—The President should emphasize that while arms control is central, we want positive movement across the board: on regional issues (particularly Afghanistan), on the various bilateral issues that are ripe for solution, and on human rights and emigration, to which the President personally attaches great importance.
We have attached talking points (at Tab 2) for your use in expanding on these themes.6
- Source: Reagan Library, George Shultz Papers, Executive Secretariat Sensitive (09/27/1985); NLR–775–14–38–2–3. Secret; Sensitive. Drafted by Tefft; cleared by Burton, Parris, and Palmer.↩
- According to the President’s Daily Diary, this pre-brief took place in the Oval Office, 9:05–9:56 a.m. (Reagan Library, President’s Daily Diary)↩
- September 26. According to the President’s Daily Diary, this meeting took place in the Oval Office from 10:05 to 11:06 a.m. (Reagan Library, President’s Daily Diary) On September 26, Reagan wrote in his personal diary: “An N.S.C. briefing for my visit tomorrow with Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze. I’m getting d—-n sick of cramming like a school kid. Sometimes they tell me more than I need to know.” (Brinkley, ed., The Reagan Diaries, vol. I: January 1981–October 1985, pp. 499–500)↩
- See Document 84.↩
- Attached but not printed.↩
- Not found attached.↩