Muskie's Maiden Mission

The nation's newest diplomat is off to meet the Soviets

There was no leisurely breaking-in period for Edmund Muskie as the 58th U.S. Secretary of State. Just eight days after being sworn into office, the nation's newest diplomat was scheduled to meet with one of the world's most experienced: Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who has dealt with (and irritated) every American Secretary of State since John Foster Dulles in 1957.

Muskie and Gromyko will both be in Vienna to participate in ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the treaty ending the postwar occupation of Austria. Though their meeting is expected to be little more than a polite chat, it has symbolic importance. Not since superpower relations were severely chilled by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has there been any high-level contact between Washington and Moscow. If their brief talks go well, the two men may agree to see each other again, perhaps as soon as next month, for more comprehensive discussions that just might reopen a substantive U.S.-Soviet dialogue.

This week's meeting probably would not have been scheduled at all had Cyrus Vance not resigned as Secretary of State. So long as he was to represent the U.S. at the Austrian festivities, the White House was unsure about whether he should see Gromyko. Vance felt he should, but presidential advisers argued that the Soviets, not the Americans, ought to make the initial gesture to resume high-level contacts. It was Moscow's aggression in Afghanistan, after all, that had ruptured U.S.-Soviet ties in the first place.

But the sudden change of command at the State Department has transformed the nature of any Vienna meeting. It is now seen as an appropriate opportunity for the two men to get better acquainted. To prepare for the meeting, Muskie last week pored over a stack of briefing books and huddled with the State Department's top Soviet experts. During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the confirmation hearings for his new post, he said: "I would expect each side to undertake to lay out its perception of each other's policies." Thus it was anticipated that Gromyko will claim, as Moscow does in public, that it sent a "limited Soviet military contingent" into Afghanistan in response to an appeal from the Kabul regime.

Muskie is certain to dispute firmly any such interpretation. Though long an advocate of U.S.-Soviet detente, Muskie told the Senate last week that he had been "as shaken as the American people were" by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As a result, he said, "we must not relent in imposing a heavy price" on Moscow. And he added: "The burden at this point falls on the Soviets to change their policy in Afghanistan." This tough stance seems in tune with the public's mood. A survey taken earlier this year by the Foreign Policy Association revealed that 62% of the respondents think the Administration's foreign policy has been too weak; in 1978 only 44% felt that way.

So long as Washington and Moscow are at odds over Afghanistan, there is little chance of progress on other issues. The U.S. is likely to maintain its embargo on grain and advanced technology sales to the U.S.S.R. Though Washington last week approved Moscow's purchase of $5 million in American equipment for oil drilling in the northwest Pacific, the Administration claims that no highly sophisticated technology is involved. What also is likely to remain frozen is SALT II. When asked about the nuclear arms treaty at the confirmation hearings, Muskie said that Senate ratification is "an impossibility at this point."

Immediately before heading for Vienna, Muskie was due to be in Brussels for a NATO meeting called to evaluate the alliance's defenses in light of the Soviet move into Afghanistan. In addition, the allies will be discussing their next steps in backing the U.S. in its confrontation with Iran. These sessions will mark Muskie's first opportunity to deal with America's disgruntled friends.

The new Secretary of State received a rousing send-off for his maiden diplomatic mission when the Senate, after less than four hours of hearings, confirmed his appointment, 94 to 2. Even the two nays (by Republican Conservatives Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire) were cast not in disapproval of Muskie but as protests against Carter's foreign policy. One Senator followed another in praising Muskie and he, in turn, brought them to their feet with an emotional farewell to the chamber in which he had served for the past 22 years. Said Muskie: "I look forward to a continuation of this relationship on a more adversary basis, perhaps." (His successor for the 2 1/2 years that remain in his term is George Mitchell, 46, who was long active in Maine Democratic politics before becoming a U.S. district court judge in 1977.)

Just hours before the Senate vote, a relaxed and even jocular Muskie fielded friendly questions from the Foreign Relations Committee. Said he: "I have brought no detailed new blueprint to this hearing. Only days ago, I was seated on your side of this room." He served on the committee for six years. Muskie's role in the Administration rather than his views on specific policy issues seemed to be on most Senators' minds. They urged him not to be upstaged by National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Said Delaware Democrat Joseph Biden: "I hope that you will walk into the President's [office] and tell him that if he doesn't support you, you'll leave." New York Republican Jacob Javits assured Muskie of congressional backing if he gets into a squabble with Brzezinski. Replied Muskie: "Since you've made the offer, I will use you as my troops." Muskie vowed that he would be the President's "principal adviser and principal spokesman" on foreign policy. His trip this week is his first chance to show how he will fare in that role.

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