Secretary of State William P. Rogers reaffirmed last night that the United States has “conclusive” evidence that “there has been a good deal of construction” of anti-aircraft missiles in the Suez Canal standstill zone. Mr. Rogers, who appeared together with Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird on CBS television “Issues and Answers” program, dismissed reports that there had been no clear agreement with the Soviet Union on the ban of introducing missiles into the 32-mile truce zone when the Arab-Israeli cease-fire went into effect on Aug. 7. “There was no doubt there was an understanding,” Mr. Rogers said. “The Soviet Union was part of it. They understood it.” Mr. Laird also offered examples of what the administration considers bad faith on the part of the Soviet Union in situations ranging from a speedup in the arms race to the Middle East and Indochina. He concentrated on what he termed the “tremendous momentum” in the Soviet weapons development – ranging from increases in building intercontinental missile sites to the expansion of the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
