Secret Paper Fuels Debate on Arms Pact

WASHINGTON — Senior Reagan Administration officials today urged the Senate to ratify the U.S.-Soviet missile ban treaty as promising a new era in arms control, but senators summoned CIA Director William H. Webster to testify secretly about allegations of Soviet cheating.

The charges by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who dramatically produced a top-secret document to support his criticism, enlivened the opening day of Senate hearings on the treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons which President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed here last month.

The treaty was endorsed at separate hearings by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci and Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Reagan sent the Senate a message asserting that the treaty will strengthen U.S. and allied security.

Shultz assured the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the Administration would “react vigorously” if the Soviets appeared to be violating the accord.

He read a 48-page statement declaring that the security of the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies would be bolstered by the proposed elimination of all U.S. and Soviet missiles with ranges of 315 to 3,125 miles.

Helms Heads Opposition

But Helms, who is leading conservative Senate opposition to the treaty, was not mollified. He previously had accused the Soviets of giving U.S. negotiators inaccurate photographs of missiles to be covered by the treaty and providing an “absurdly low” count of SS-20 missiles in the Soviet arsenal.

Helms said a classified document he received last Wednesday raised questions about Soviet compliance. He had an aide carry the document, which was stamped “Top Secret,” to Shultz for his perusal.

Shultz declined to turn the cover. “I just don’t think this is the place to open this for public inspection,” said Shultz, whose testimony was televised.

“Can I get this document out of my hands?” he asked, and sent it back to Helms.

In their exchange, Shultz and Helms carefully avoided any reference to the contents of the document, but Shultz offered assurances that “the problems can be dealt with satisfactorily.”

Helms said Webster, the CIA chief, had written him a letter saying the allegations were “substantially accurate.”

But Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) apparently also quoting from Webster’s letter, said Webster had observed that the alleged Soviet violations alone were not “a sufficient basis to draw conclusions” about Soviet behavior.

Schedules Closed Session

At that point, Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), the committee chairman, said his panel would hold a closed hearing Friday to take testimony from Webster.

Helms did not explain how he obtained the document or where it originated. Shultz suggested it was merely a draft of some sort. “I got a lot of people trying to help,” Helms said.

In another hearing room, Carlucci and Crowe echoed Shultz’s endorsement in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Shultz acknowledged before the Foreign Relations Committee that the treaty might not contain air-tight assurances against Soviet violations. Reagan has repeatedly accused Moscow of violating past arms control agreements.

“No treaty in and of itself can fully guarantee compliance with its terms,” Shultz told a packed hearing room in the modernistic Hart Senate office building.

Shultz offered assurances, however, that the Soviets would be called to task.

If the Administration detected suspicious activity it would call immediately for a meeting of a special verification commission established by the treaty, Shultz said.