Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-11
STEVENSON DISARMAMENT
Our Extraordinary Chance at Geneva


dence, such control was castigated
by the Russians as control over
ornaments" rather than control
over disarmament" and thus IAN
international system Of legalized
espionage"
Here we are close to the heart
OF the disarmament problem. An
unbroken thread of controversy
over the inspection issue runs
through years of disarmament ne
gotiations. The Soviets, with their
closed society, seem incapable of
regarding Communist in
Spectors as anything but hostile
agents of bourgeois world i'm
placably bent on the destruction
OF Communist society. The West,
with well-grounded suspicion, is
not prepared to rely on unveri-
fled Communist assurances that
disarmament provisions have been
carried out.
lmposse Con Be Broken
With a modicum of common
sense and a desire for progress,
it ought to be possible to break
this impasse. 1t will probably have
to be done not by belaboring ex-
listing doctrinal differences but by
agreeing on reasonable require
mentS for particular disarmament
measures, on a case-by- case basis.
We in the West will have to scale
our demands for inspection rights
in accordance with the degree of
disarmament we are seeking. The
Communists will have to recog-
nize that they must live on their
own territory with inspectors who
attend to their own knitting.
1t would be premature to specu-
late on the course of the Geneva
disarmament negotiations. We
may fairly SurmiSe, however, that
the published disarmament plans
of the United States and the
Soviet Union will provide a focus
for the negotiations. Both of them
cover the disarmament water
front, though only in an outline
form.
The United States program is
a well-rounded, carefully studied
outline of the content of q COM
plete disarmament scheme. It pro-
vides in general terms for equita-
BILE reduction of armed forces and
ornaments, including chemical,
biological and Pathological weap-
onS. It includes a series of steps
to contain and reduce the nuclear
threat, through hating atomic
tests, stopping the production of
fashionable material for bombs,
reducing stockpiles, and prevent
ing the spread of nuclear weapons
to countries not now owning them.
Delivery Vehicles
The program also envisages the
gradual elimination of strategic
nuclear delivery vehicles that is,
the missiles, aircraft and ships
by which nuclear weapons are
directed to distant targets. It pro-
hibits the DRIFTING of space
satellites carrying weapons Of mass
destruction.
1t proposes measures to reduce
the risks of war by accident or
surprise. It establishes an Inter-
national Disarmament Organiza-
ton to verify the commitments
of participating States and to
work out the details of subsequent
steps of the disarmament process.
And finally, the plan calls for
strengthening the peaceful settle
ment procedures of the United
Nations as well as for creation
of U. N. Peace Force competent
to cope with the residual national
forces maintained for internal
security purposes.
Every one of these steps will
require intensive negotiation and
study-not to agree that they are
desirable in principle, for that is
assumed, but to find ways of carry
ing them out without impair
ing the relative security of any
party.