Interview with Paul Warnke, 1986

Paul Warnke was chief negotiator for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) II during the Jimmy Carter administration and director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency from 1977 to 1979. In the interview Warnke conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, he explains the purpose and promise of arms control and shares his view that it’s a “step-by-step process,” like getting down from a tree one branch at a time to “end up on solid ground.” Warnke challenges his critics, many of whom argued that the United States must develop more weapons to close a “window of vulnerability.” In arms control negotiations, he feels that each side must possess the “strategic comfort” that its retaliatory capability is preserved, and at the same time must accept that neither country can gain and maintain strategic nuclear superiority. Warnke warns against an unconstrained arms race that could lead to a dangerous hair-trigger stance or a preemptive first strike. He reiterates the often harsh debate between the Carter administration and Congress over strategic policy, weapons development, linkage, and arms negotiations. Warnke himself faced some tough challenges. He defends his advocacy of “reciprocal restraint” and his support during the 1960s and 1970s of particular weapons systems, rejecting the stance that these were “decades of neglect.” Warnke recounts President Carter’s initial proposals to bypass SALT II in favor of deeper arms reductions, explains why the Soviet Union rejected the comprehensive package, and discusses the return to the Vladivostok agreement of 1974. He also contrasts the political climate, public mood, and presidential power that ensured the ratification of SALT I but disabled SALT II. During his career, Warnke remained a strong proponent of SALT II for the reductions it achieved and the framework it established for subsequent negotiations.