744 Foreign Relations 1981–1988 Volume IV 204 Memorandum From the Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Meyer to Director of Central Intelligence Casey the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence McMahon and the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council Gates 1 Washington March 29 1984 SUBJECT 1 line not declassified 8 paragraphs 20 lines not declassified 1½ lines not declassified General Atkeson strongly recommends that NFIB Principals meet less than 1 line not declassified He believes we should ask NSA to reexamine what we know about Soviet reactions to Able Archer 83 Was the Soviet response what we would expect if in fact they were anticipating a first-strike Did we detect additional anomalies which were not brought to Community attention at the time Note the attached NID item from 10 Nov 83 which does suggest that the Soviets responded to Able Archer 83 in an unusual fashion 2 5 You should be aware that on 3 April the US will begin a set of exercises led by NIGHT TRAIN a worldwide procedural nuclear command post exercise These will include a live firing of a naval Poseidon missile If in fact the Soviets were scared by Able Archer these upcoming exercises could really frighten them This raises the question of whether you want to make the Secretary of Defense and other appropriate officials aware of the possibility that the Soviet level of concern may be considerably higher than generally believed Herbert E Meyer Attachment Intelligence Report3 location not declassified March 20 1984 11 pages not declassified 1 Source Central Intelligence Agency National Intelligence Council Job 88T00528R Policy Files 1982–1984 Box 1 Folder 1 VC NIC Chron January–March 1984 Top Secret codeword not declassified 2 See Document 134 3 Top Secret codeword not declassified 388-401 428-S 40036 X 40036$CH00 01-07-21 23 10 55 PDFd 40036A even Page 746