§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the Minister of State at the FCO, Mr. Mellor, referred to one of the United States/Soviet Union negotiating groups in Geneva as the "space-defence" group when it has hitherto been understood to be dealing with "space-arms" or "space-weapons" of all kinds and the "prevention of an arms race in space" (Secretary of State Shultz's statement in Geneva, 9th January 1985) and whether they are now proposing to accept (a) the technical possibility; (b) the strategic desirability; or (c) the legitimacy in international law of "space-defence" in spite of Sir Geoffrey Howe's Royal United Service Institution and International Institute for Strategic Studies questions remaining unaddressed and unanswered. [15th July].
§ Lord GlenarthurA statement by the US delegation to the Geneva nuclear and space talks on 21st March 1985 referred to, "The first meeting of the group on defence and space will take place at the Soviet Mission in Geneva on 26th March (1985)".
The aim of the SDI research programme is to assess the feasibility of strategic defences. Our policy on the issues raised by SDI remains based on the Camp David four points of December 1984.