42. Letter From the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
(Johnson) to the
Deputy Secretary of Defense (Packard)1
Washington, November 18, 1970.
Dear Dave:
For some time there has been a need to clarify certain aspects of United
States relations with the South African military establishment. How to
deal with South African requests for unclassified training films and
military correspondence courses and with the question of high-ranking
military visits has been a nagging problem for both our Departments for
several years.
None of these issues was definitively dealt with in recent southern
Africa studies submitted to the National Security Council (NSC) or the subsequent White House policy
directives,2 but I believe we now have a framework for the
determination of policy in these matters.
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Therefore, I am proposing a set of guidelines, a copy of which is
enclosed, for handling these questions. I hope these can become agreed
State/Defense policy. Assuming both Departments reach agreement on the
guidelines, I propose we then inform the NSC of our action.
With all best wishes,
Sincerely,
Enclosure
Guidelines for Relations with South African
Military Establishment
A. Training Films
The South African Defense Force may buy from the General Services
Administration (GSA) National Audiovisual Center (NAC) unclassified films of DOD origin which are not combat or
security related. As some of the 3,000-odd DOD films currently available for GSA sale are combat
related, representatives of DOD and
State will review the NAC catalog
and make up a list of films which may be purchased by the SADF. Defense and State
representatives will meet from time to time to review the titles of
new acquisitions of the Center in order to keep the approved list
current.
Direct DOD sale of such films to
SADF is not possible as South
Africa has been dropped from the FMS eligibility list.
B. Military Correspondence Courses
There may be limited South African participation in a US military
correspondence course if the course:
- 1.
- is unclassified;
- 2.
- has no application to the exercise of internal security,
or the enforcement of apartheid;
- 3.
- is not significantly related to combat or to training in
combat operations; (Courses in economics, management, law,
safety and health are illustrative of subject matter that
may be considered.)
- 4.
- involves no award of a diploma or other public sign of
South African participation.
The program will be monitored and applications approved through
consultations among DOD/ISA and
PM and AF in State with a view to assuring reciprocal
advantage to the US and maintaining low visibility. Initiative will
be left to the South Africans; course announce
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ments, which in effect are invitations
to apply, will not be distributed to them. Upon South African
inquiry about courses in a particular field, information on the
availability of qualified courses in that field may be provided.
Approvals of applications for an individual to participate will be
held to 12 a year unless special circumstances justify a larger
number as in the US interest and involving no significant political
disadvantages. There will be full field coordination through the
Embassy in Pretoria.
The release of any courses now ready for delivery but held by our
attachés in South Africa will be decided on the same basis.
C. Visits and Participation in Military-Sponsored
Courses and Conferences
- 1.
- As a general rule, official visits on any level will not be
encouraged and high-level official visits, e.g. Brigadier
General, etc., will not be approved in either direction.
- 2.
- Participation of South African officers of any level in
military courses or conferences in the US will not normally be
approved when the sponsor is a branch of the USG.
- 3.
- Exceptions can be made in special circumstances, e.g. where
the visit or participation in a course or conference (a) would
not be conspicuous; (b) would not contribute directly to South
Africa’s military capacity and (c) would offer some special
advantage in the pursuit of US objectives.
- 4.
- Decisions in such cases will be taken by the Departments of
State and Defense jointly, and field control will be exercised
by the American Embassy in Pretoria. Similarly, State, Defense
and the Embassy will try to discourage nonofficial travel by
high-ranking military personnel between the two countries if it
appears that such travel would cause us serious foreign policy
problems.