European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the 5tars and stripes monday april 27, 1987 columns James resign Swap is Ideal solution to embassy dilemma the us. Government is still trying to figure out what to do with hat $190 million embassy it built in Moscow the girders arc said to be so full of soviet listening devices thai Congress is talking about pulling Lite thing Down and starting All Over again this time without the assistance of soviet contractor. Meanwhile the russians have built a gleaming new embassy in mount Alto with a cd car View of the while House slate deportment and Pentagon. The problem is that we can t use our embassy and we won t let them use theirs until our compound is deranged or replaced after a couple of years and another s2uo million or so. This is not the worst tangle in  relations and fortunately with a Little nil of common sense it could easily be resolved simply by swapping the two buildings. They could take our ugly Brick red Structure in mos cow and we could take Over their White compound up by the Washington Cathedral. The new soviet embassy would be Ideal for the United states information Agency and the voice of America and he new . Embassy in Moscow would be just right for radio Moscow put via and Izvestia which could use new quarters Complete with bugs As things now stand inc us a occupies 10 buildings in downtown Washington at an annual rent of �20 million so if a Swap were arranged the budget could be reduced. There should be no Legal difficulties. Under the agreement signed by the two countries in 1972, it was stipulated that the Cha Ceries will be occupied simultaneously at an agr cd upon Dale after full completion and acceptance by the two countries the Deal said that the land would remain the prop erty of the Host country but the structures themselves would be the property of the guest country and would remain  the official . View is that the soviet Union Vio lated the . Embassy by studding the girders with bugs and since it cannot be occupied in that Condi Tion then will be no simultaneous 1 occupation of the new soviet embassy in Washington. The russians official View is a Little different. They say that we bugged their embassy so that even if they bugged ours the violation was reciprocal so what s Alt the fuss about Aslo the notion of a Swap that they would Proba Bly say is not Only unacceptable but ridiculous George will embassy  maybe president Reagan and Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev can work this out at their promised Summit later this year. Meanwhile the slate department has asked its official architects to come up with new and More secure embassies in the future presumably underground and terrorist proof. The slate department is also negotiating with inc Marine corps about now to avoid soviet spies under and in embassy Beds. One suggestion is thai the marines should be assigned to guard embassies Only Al the end of heir careers when they Are girl proof and not at the beginning. Another is that the whole idea of having Young Mili tary guards at embassy gales vulnerable to soviet swallows and Honey raps should be scrapped and use retired civilian cops As other nations do. The technicians studying this problem however arc not optimistic for the an of electronic snooping is proceeding faster than the arts of defense. For example when the embassy agreement was signed giving the russians a Clear View of the principal executive buildings downtown and across uie River it was not imag ined that advanced techniques might eventually be devel oped to penetrate official lines of communication. Vet that agreement gave Moscow a lease of 85-years, which the administrator would now Tike to Amend or break but does t quite know How. Each us. Embassy abroad docs have usually on the top floor what has been regarded As a secure Glass enclosed room or Bubble from which secret communications can be sent or received. But when Secre tary of stale George Shutlz went to Moscow recently he still had to take a specially equipped trailer to communicate with Washington or use the communications of his White House Airliner. Accordingly it will take Lime and a lot of Money to get things straight unless of course they make a sensible Swap of embassies and Start the process All Over again. My Vowk Tom unit Soma . Should put its 100 warheads in Alaska arms control fever a malady that often causes Summit dementia is raging in the nation s Capi Tal. So in an attempt to lower the temperature the Reagan administration should think about Alaska. The reason for doing so takes us Back to last october s outbreak of the malady and the dementia. James Schlesinger s scathing assessment of the Reykjavik Summit As ill conceived As the 1961 Vienna Summit the worst outcome since the blow up of the i960 Paris Summit inc most utopian expectations since Yalta 1945 is illustrated by this Point in ice land president Reagan on the Spur of the moment accepted Mikhail Gorbachev s proposal that the Zero option be not quite Zero. Gorbachev s idea is that both sides withdraw their longer Range intermediate forces inf the . Pershing ils and cruise missiles the soviet ss-20s but that each Side keep launchers for 100 warheads in their own territory with the soviet 100 being in Asia meaning East of the urals. That idea has upset our asian allies because we seem to be compromising their interests to Advance ours. Bui the Paramount question is Why does Gorba Chev want this residual inf Force speaking on Abc Paul Nilze special a visor to the president on arms control was asked Why Gorbachev now says he will not accept Zero worldwide. Niter answered his main defense for not agreeing to it was that this was what was accepted by both sides at Reykjavik. And we the . Ndoc do not Vanl logo Back on that  Well yes. Gorbachev wants a residual Force be cause he wants it. But Why .1 one reason and probably the primary reason is mat it will facilitate soviet cheating on numerical limits. As Long As even a Small Force is licensed the soviet Union will be licensed to maintain production lines testing and training of Crews. These functions pose two problems. First they would provide an infrastructure Abr a rapid expansion of inf forces if the soviet Union decides suddenly to break out of an agreement. Second and More important those functions also would complicate verification of any agreement because they would enable the soviets to expand their capabilities under the Guise of maintaining their residual Force. Thai is no minor matter when dealing with a regime that has the soviet record of non compliance with agreements. Assume As it probably is Wise to do Given the fever that the United states is unwilling to insist that any inf agreement achieve Zero worldwide. On that As sumption it is necessary for the United states to de ploy its 100 in Alaska. From there they would be Able to strike serious soviet military targets. However the reason for deploying them there is political As Well As military. On Abc Nitze said it is important for us not to give up the right 10 have them in Alaska and we have not. And we be insisted on thai. And we never did agree at Reykjavik thai they would t be in Alaska and we did t agree in Moscow that they would t be in Alaska. So there is this difference Between the two sides with respect to Alaska which exists  Nitze s somewhat oblique formulation and the echoing absence of any slated intention to put the 100 in Alaska May be explained by a girly about alaskan opinion. Remember the successful resistance from All those conservative people out there in Rea Gan country when there was talk of Basing the my missile on racetracks in Nevada. One reason the United Stales should nevertheless put its 100 in Alaska was made Clear when also on Abc Viktor Karpov the soviet arms negotiator was asked if the soviet Union would object to that he Sard yes sure and added you see the situation now is that no medium Range missiles of the soviet Union Are deployed in a Way to reach United slates territory even  Karpov is off the Point. In fact he is off several Points. One is that the soviet 100 in East Asia would have a political military Mission As the japanese chinese and koreans can attest. If the . 100 arc anywhere in the United states other than Alaska they would have no Mission. However the More important Point is this. Soviet ss-20s could be deployed East of the urals and still be Able to strike Europe As deep As London. So under the agreement ss-20s could strike the territory of nato allies. And the Linchpin of nato is the doctrine that the United slates would regard an attack on any nato ally As an attack on the United Stales. Therefore if the United slates were to accept the soviet impertinence of dictating where in the United slates inc . 100 can be the United Stales would further weaken the already tenuous coupling at Europe and the United slates. It would be Folly to further Advance the soviet goal of decoupling by allowing the soviet Union to establish inc principle that there is a fundamental difference Between i hair being Able to strike nato territory with their 100 and the United Stales being Able to strike soviet territory with the . 100, if the president can not achieve Zero worldwide he at least must deploy the residual Force an the real estate we bought from Russia. La of i flit Loup