217. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter1
SUBJECT
- Presidential Emissary on Energy
At the meeting on energy and the summit you might consider the possibility of a special emissary, to galvanize the consciousness of the consumer nations and perhaps also to encourage a new dialogue between the consumers and the producers.
There are two basic alternatives: one would be an emissary who would essentially try to generate a united front among the principal consumers, including some of the developing countries (e.g., India). Good candidates for such an emissary would include the Vice President, or George Ball, or Paul Austin,2 and Mike Blumenthal.
An alternative approach would involve more of an effort to generate a new consumers/producers dialogue (on the model of the CIEC—Conference on International Economic Cooperation—run out of Paris). The best candidate for an emissary along these lines would be David Rockefeller, who would have the ear of both the consumers and the producers. If security issues were to be related, particularly in the dialogue with the producers, I could be an alternative to Rockefeller, but that would be distinctly a second choice.
Depending on the sense of urgency felt by the participants at the meeting, such an emissary could go either prior to the forthcoming OPEC meeting (scheduled to open on June 26) or after the Tokyo Summit.
I recommend you consider this idea in the context of this afternoon’s discussion.