A.
As the representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I was the principal military
advisor to Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, the head of the SALT II negotiating
team. It was my job to see to it that our national security interests were not being
harmed. As part of my job I kept the chairman of the JCS and the other chiefs
informed as to what was going on in Geneva.
Q ..
You held this position for over six years, during three presidencies did you not?
Yes. I was the person on the negotiating team with the longest tenure. U.S. team
A
chiefs and members changed quite frequently. One of the reasons why I stayed on
the team from the beginning to the end of SALT II was my personal conviction that
the U.S. team should have some continuity. The Soviets kept the same people
negotiating for long periods of time. Most of the Soviets who were in SALT II had
been in SALT I and stayed with SALT II until the treaty was initialed. On our
side, the representatives of the Secretary of State, the Arms Control Agency, and
the Defense Department rotated every year or two. I was the only one who started
with the team who was there at the end.
Just before the election of 1976, I thought that I had been on the SALT II team
long enough and notified the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that I wanted to
leave. I interviewed for several jobs in the civilian sector and accepted one which
I thought was challenging and one in which I could continue to serve the nation's
interests. Besides, it paid twice my salary in the military. The chairman at the
time was George Brown, a West Point classmate. We had become friends over the
years. George said that I should reconsider. "You will have lots of time to make
money later on," he said. "Besides, I need your expertise. The team needs
continuity, w he said. "If Jimmy Carter wins," he said, "I think I can offer you
several inducements. Harold Brown will become the Secretary of Defense, and Cy
Vance will become Secretary of State. Both of these persons know and respect
you. You can play a larger role than you have in the past."
Carter was elected President and, as George Brown had predicted, Harold Brown
and Cyrus Vance came aboard. George Brown went to see Harold Brown and
talked to him about offering me the position of representing not only the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, but the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well. Harold Brown
agreed that there would be one representative for both agencies. Furthermore,
George Brown asked Secretary Vance to take me along with him to ministerial
meetings if I would come aboard with the new administration. It was a very
attractive offer. I debated whether to take them up on it. I had seen Harold
Brown's plan for SALT II and liked it. It was a plan I thought I could convince
the chiefs they should support. The plan had been worked up in detail by Walter
Slocombe, a lawyer I had known and respected. Furthermore, Zbigniew Brzezinski
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