Office of the Historian

27. National Security Study Memorandum 1431

Washington, December 15, 1971.

TO

  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Secretary of the Treasury
  • The Secretary of Commerce
  • The Director of Central Intelligence
  • The Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

SUBJECT

  • Review of US–Soviet Negotiations
[Page 84]

As part of the process of planning for his meetings in Moscow, the President has directed that all bilateral issues that may be subject to discussions or negotiations with the USSR between now and the summit meeting be reviewed by the Senior Review Group. Multilateral negotiations, other than on major international issues (e.g. SALT, Berlin, MBFR, CSCE, etc.) will be included in this review.

To initiate this review each agency should prepare a brief status report of those issues within its jurisdiction which are currently under discussion with the USSR as well as any questions that may be discussed or negotiated in the next five months. All issues will be included even though they may be the subject of separate NSSM study. These status reports should include a description of the issue, its current status, prospects for agreement and the possible interrelationship with other questions being discussed with the USSR.

The agency status reports should be submitted through the Chairman of the NSC Interdepartmental Group for Europe not later than December 29, 1971 for consideration by the NSC Senior Review Group.2 The Chairman, NSC–IG Europe will assure a uniform format, and will submit, along with the agency reports, a brief summary of the interrelationship among the various issues reported. For the purposes of this special project, the Senior Review Group will include representatives of the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Treasury, and NASA; other agencies will participate if there are matters concerning the USSR in their area of responsibility that are likely to arise between now and the summit.

The President has directed further that no agreements with the USSR will be initialed or otherwise concluded without his approval.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Security Council, NSSM Files, NSSM 143. Secret. Copies were sent to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Richardson, Chairman of the JCS Moorer, Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality Train, the President’s Assistant for International Economic Affairs Peterson, Director of ACDA Smith, and Director of USIA Shakespeare.↩
  2. See Document 34.↩