US should rein in envoys from USSR, Jackson says

January 24, 1980

Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D) of Washington, a leading critic of Soviet human-rights policies, said Wednesday the United States should bar Soviet diplomats from visiting restricted areas in this country. He was commenting in a television interview on the exile of Andrei D. Sakharov, the Soviet dissident, to the city of Gorky, which is closed to foreigners.

The Senator said Soviet diplomats had applied successfully to visit areas in the US normally off limits to them. "They were even out looking at our proposed MX missile site. I suggest we take action now to prevent the Soviets from going to any of these cities that have been closed."