Message to the Senate Transmitting the Annual Report of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

February 24, 1988

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit the 1987 Report of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. It reviews the negotiation process used in achieving the INF Treaty and contains a copy of the Treaty itself. That Treaty, signed by General Secretary Gorbachev and me on December 8, 1987, is the first treaty of the nuclear era requiring the elimination of an entire category of U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons.

The report provides information about the ongoing negotiations for a 50-percent reduction to equal levels in U.S. and Soviet strategic nuclear offensive arms, an effective and verifiable ban on chemical weapons, and the correction of disparities in conventional forces. Also described are the ancillary activities of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in support of our arms control policies and, concomitantly, the security of the United States.

The INF Treaty constitutes a breakthrough in verification, the most far-reaching in the history of arms control, and should serve as a guide for other treaties to come. The political and economic advantages of carefully negotiated and effectively verifiable arms reductions hold great promise for peace, security, and continued prosperity for our country. The 1987 record of progress toward those goals is contained in this 27th ACDA Report.

Ronald Reagan

The White House,

February 24, 1988.