326. Instructions From Secretary of State Rusk to the U.S. Representative to the UN Conference for the Adoption of a Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (Anslinger)1
Sir:
The following instructions will guide you in your capacity as United States Representative to the United Nations Conference for the Adoption of a Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to be convened at New York, New York, on January 24, 1961. I shall appreciate your communicating these instructions to the other members of the delegation.
The conference at New York will be an official inter-governmental conference called to adopt a single convention on narcotic drugs, to replace the existing multilateral treaties in the field. A position paper has been prepared on specific items of the agenda and on the principal issues expected to arise. This paper, which is enclosed, constitutes a part of your instructions.2
It will be noted that the enclosed position paper bears an administrative control designation. Even after the substance of this paper has been made known to the conference in the presentation of the position of this Government, there may remain in it material that should not be revealed. For this reason the position paper is to be protected in accordance with its administrative control designation even after the United States position has been made public.
In the absence of specific authorization from the Department, no representative of the United States may offer or subscribe to any written or oral statement that might be construed to commit this Government to a definite course of action requiring specific approval by the President or the Congress or that might involve an obligation to expend governmental funds not previously appropriated and allocated.
[Page 719]Your delegation has been officially accredited to this conference and is accordingly attending in an official capacity for the United States Government. Any statement made for the delegation or by its members will be interpreted as the official views of the Government and not the views of individual members or of organizations or groups with which they are affiliated. The delegation accordingly must act as a unit. You are responsible for maintaining necessary conformity within the delegation, and in the event of a division among the members of the delegation, your decision shall be final and binding.
If prompted to express opinions on United States policies or programs not germane to the conference, delegation members should be especially mindful to be cautious in their remarks and to identify them as personal.
As head of the delegation you are responsible for its organization and the specific assignment of work to each member. If because of absence, disability, or any other reason you should become unable to discharge your duties, you may delegate your authority for as long as necessary to another member of the delegation of appropriate rank.
Upon reaching New York, you should report promptly to the United States Mission to the United Nations in order that the United States Representative to the United Nations may be informed of your arrival. You should look to the Mission for any official assistance required during the conference. Substantive matters affecting foreign policy not covered by your instructions should be discussed with the Mission and, if appropriate, referred to the Department without delay.
Funds have been made available to the delegation for the official entertainment of foreign delegates and officials of the conference secretariat, and the Mission has been authorized to expend these funds at your discretion. The amount approved was determined on the basis of experience with similar meetings and an appraisal of any special circumstances concerning this meeting. You are responsible for ensuring that representation activities are carefully planned and that expenditures do not exceed the amount authorized unless prior approval has been received from the Department.
Upon the successful negotiation and conclusion of an instrument concerning narcotic drugs, the Department will recommend to the President that he issue full power to sign the instrument on behalf of the United States of America. When the document has been issued, indicating that the President has invested you with full power to sign in the name of the United States the instrument agreed upon at the conference, it will be transmitted to you. Signature of the instrument for the United States will be only by you and such other person or persons as may be designated in the Presidential document. It is to be understood that signature [Page 720] will not commit the United States to the terms of the instrument until the stipulated requirements for bringing it into force have been fulfilled and until such action as may be required by this Government has been taken to make the instrument effective for the United States. If it should be deemed necessary or advisable during the conference to sign the instrument subject to a specific reservation or understanding, inscribed together with the signature, instructions for this purpose should be sought. The document should be deposited with the conference authorities at such time as you deem appropriate. If its use is not required, the document will be returned by you to the Department of State. Aside from the instrument itself, you are authorized to sign other statements of findings reached as a result of the labors of the meeting, provided they are within the terms of these instructions and are in the form of final acts, resolutions, recommendations, or the like, and not in the form of a further treaty or other binding international agreement.
During the course of the meeting the Department will appreciate being kept fully informed of all significant developments. The reporting facilities of the Mission are available to you for this purpose.
Within thirty days after the close of the meeting, you are requested to submit a report covering the work of the delegation and the final actions taken. This report, which will become a part of the permanent records of the United States Government, should follow as closely as possible the enclosed guide entitled “Reports Required of United States Delegations to International Conferences” (IC/7).3 You are also requested to submit a separate classified report covering the subjects mentioned in the above guide under the heading “Classified Report of the United States Delegation.” Reports should be addressed to the Secretary of State and marked for the attention of the Office of International Conferences. In addition, you should assure that four complete sets of all official conference documents and United States Delegation documents are assembled and sent to the Department marked for the attention of the Office of International Conferences.
The Department of State is pleased that you will again head a United States Delegation to an international conference concerned with the problem of narcotic drugs and its confident that you will effectively represent the interests of this Government at this important meeting.
Very truly yours,
For the Secretary of State:
- Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1960–63, 341.9/1–1961. Official Use Only. Anslinger was Commissioner of Narcotics in the Department of the Treasury. The instructions were drafted on January 18 by Chester G. Dunham (IO/OIC) and cleared and approved by Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Francis O. Wilcox.↩
- Not found.↩
- Not found.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Wilcox signed the original.↩