Caught Between the Richards

By GEORGE J. CHURCH

Nitze's arms-control appointment is unlikely to bring harmony

The gang will all be there when Secretary of State George Shultz's jet heads for Geneva next month, but it is most unlikely to unite in a chorus of Hail, Hail! Instead, the flight may ring with the same discord that fills Washington whenever the subject turns to arms control, since chiefs of all the warring factions will be thrown together. One voice, however, is likely to stand out amid the babble. Paul Nitze, appointed last week by President Reagan as top negotiator and senior adviser to Shultz on arms control, will be the only U.S. official actually sitting in with the Secretary of State during talks with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko on Jan. 7 and 8. If those discussions eventually result in a resumption of formal U.S.-Soviet bargaining about nuclear weapons, Nitze could head the American negotiating team.

Nitze, who will celebrate his 78th birthday eight days after the talks with Gromyko conclude, adds stature to the American negotiating team. He is by far the most experienced U.S. bargainer with the Soviets, and in Washington has won the respect of both hardliners and moderates on arms control. A longtime advocate of American military strength, he also has been, in his own eyes at least, a consistent proponent of equitable agreement with the U.S.S.R. That stand led him to play a major role both in negotiating the SALT I treaty and in organizing opposition to the unratified SALT II.

In 1982, as chief U.S. negotiator at the INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) talks in Geneva, Nitze and his Russian counterpart worked out the now famous "walk in the woods" formula for severe restrictions on the deployment of both U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles in Europe. It was rejected by both Washington and Moscow, and since the Soviets broke off the INF talks a year ago, Nitze has occupied a fifth-floor office at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), retaining the title of INF negotiator but left with nothing much to do.

Nitze's move upstairs to a seventh-floor office near Shultz's in the State Department building has caused agitated speculation in Washington. The general view is that he will strengthen Shultz's hand in dealing with Pentagon hard-liners who are suspicious of any arms-control agreement. The Pentagon, in contrast, hopes Nitze will restrain what it regards as State's excessive eagerness to strike a deal.

In any case, Nitze's appointment is hardly likely to end the squabbling over arms control. Brent. Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser, was sounded out for the arms-control position; he demanded the title of special envoy and authority to resolve disputes. Reagan refused and left the authority of the special adviser vague when Nitze took the post. The President then proceeded to invite nearly every Government adviser concerned with arms control to make the trip to Geneva. They include ACDA Director Kenneth Adelman, who has several times taken disagreements with Shultz directly to Reagan, and "the two Richards": Burt of State, an advocate of greater U.S. efforts to draft negotiable positions, and Perle of Defense, the most skeptical of the Pentagon's hawks. The stated purpose of the invitations was to enable Shultz to obtain "quick interagency action" on anything Gromyko might propose. But the dissonant American delegation is more likely to give Shultz quick inter-agency stalemate.

For whatever consolation it may be, Moscow also seems to be having trouble agreeing on a position to take in Geneva. Soviet Leader Constantin Chernenko has been talking of "serious negotiations" and "radical solutions," but also bringing up ideas, such as a mutual pledge not to use nuclear weapons first, that the U.S. has long resisted. The Kremlin has its own hard-liners to appease and a severe problem explaining to its people why it is thinking of resuming bargaining with the U.S. when it swore it never would. Jockeying between the two sides, and within each side, is likely to go on through the Geneva talks and probably long afterward. -By George J. Church.

Reported by Johanna McGeary/Washington

With reporting by Johanna McGeary/Washington