Shortly before his confirmation, the new Secretary of State spoke to chief of correspondents John Stacks, special correspondent Michael Kramer and diplomatic correspondent Christopher Ogden. Excerpts:
Q. Do you agree with National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft that Mikhail Gorbachev's "peace offensive" is designed to make trouble for the Western Alliance?
A. We ought to recognize that the Soviet Union remains a very heavily armed power with interests that are adverse to the U.S. I don't think it has departed from what has been Soviet policy for a long, long time, and that is to test the Alliance, to probe, to look...