
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993                   TAG: 9312070175
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. MAY STOP POINTING MISSILES AT RUSSIA

With the Cold War over, the United States and Russia are discussing a plan to stop aiming their long-range nuclear missiles at each other. "We are working it through now," President Clinton said Monday.

The missiles may be targeted instead on desolate spots on the high seas. There is a chance the targeting data would be removed entirely from the weapons, but experts said this could be risky if the missiles are accidentally launched.

The result, in any event, would be mostly symbolic, since the missiles can be re-targeted within minutes, said U.S. officials who discussed the negotiations on condition they not be identified.

Clinton said "we're working very hard with the Russians . . . to make them and ourselves and others feel more secure with that move." He said there was no final decision. A State Department spokeswoman, Christine Shelly, said recommendations may be sent to the president by early spring.

Whatever arrangement is made will not be verifiable, experts said. It is impossible to know where the other side's missiles are aimed, and U.S. targeting is constantly changed to conform with changing strategic assessments and changes in the U.S. arsenal, they said.

The United States and Russia are committed to scaling down their arsenals of strategic nuclear missiles by about two-thirds by the end of the century. That will still leave potent stockpiles capable of causing massive destruction.

American and Russian missile experts discussed de-targeting in Moscow last month as part of an ongoing survey of how to adjust to the end of the Cold War.

by CNB