Sentence:  But he hastened to add that , if United States policies <WSD>were</WSD> not always clear , despite Mr. Rusk 's analysis of the various global danger points and setbacks for the West , this may merely mean the new administration has not yet firmly fixed its policy . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)