United States Department of State

Under Secretary of State
for Political Affairs

Washington, D.C. 20520
August 19, 1985

 
 
   

  
    
   

AUG 23 1985

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Dear Dr. Lederberg: CE OF THE PRES

Thanks for your extensive notes on your recent meetings in
the Soviet Union. I have passed them on to the State Department
offices dealing with arms control matters, particularly chemical
and biological warfare issues.

As you know, the Soviets are very caught up with the
President's SDI program and how to respond to it. We hope that
we can begin a constructive dialogue on how both our countries
might cooperatively and in a stable manner move toward a
deterrence system based increasingly on defensive systems and
less on the threat ot offensive nuclear retaliation. Progress
in Geneva has been slow, but given the complexity and importance
of the issues, we are about where we expected to be.

Your point that advances in medical research and technology
May create a greater risk of biological warfare proliferation is
troubling, and we will need to look at this more closely. As
you note, Soviet BW capabilities remain a serious concern. The
Administration's two reports on Soviet non-compliance with arms
control agreements have referred to the problem of Soviet Bw
activities and the Soviet failure to provide adequate
explanations. I appreciate your efforts to impress on your
Soviet interlocutors the importance of the Sverdlovsk anthrax
outbreak. The voices of respected American scientists and
academic leaders such as yourself might help to persuade the
Soviets that meaningful corrective steps toward compliance with
their legal obligations need to be taken. Thanks for writing.

With best wishes,

Warm regards,

fe la hewn

Michael H. Armacost

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
President,
Rockefeller University
New York, New York

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