Diary Entry - 11/30/1983

N.S.C. for much of morning including a visit by Ambas. Prince Bandar (Saudi Arabia). He brought a message from King Fahd re Lebanon & the chances of wooing Syria away from the Soviets. I’m afraid his plan involves us separating ourselves somewhat from Israel. No can do. Most of N.S.C. had to do with our going forward with research leading to a defense weapon against nuclear missiles. Some 50 scientists were persuaded to look at the problem after my March 23rd (’83) declaration. They started as sceptics & have wound up enthusiasts. We’ll proceed. Lunch was a Budget strategy meeting. It was downbeat. Dave S. projected some pessimistic projections based on what we could expect Cong. to do. I said the h--l with that. We cant go on with business as usual—business being us asking for spending cuts and being satisfied with less than half what we asked for. We cant go on with $200 bil. a year deficits ad infinitem. Pvt. meeting with George Shultz. He brought me up to date with or on his meetings with P.M. Shamir. The P.M. doesn’t think our defense people are very cordial to Israel but believes I am a trustworthy friend. Cabinet Council meeting again on budget. I’m afraid I got on a soap box about taking our case to the people—this is a crisis situation. A signing ceremony in St. Dining room for the revenue sharing bill—$4.6 Bil for each of 3 yrs. Many Mayors & local officials on hand.