Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969–1972

80. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to Secretary of State Rogers¹

Washington, March 9, 1972.

SUBJECT

• Consultations with NATO Allies Before the President’s Moscow Meetings

The President would like you to ensure that the NATO Allies are briefed, and where pertinent, consulted as fully as feasible in connection with our preparations for the Moscow summit talks.²

Accordingly, the President has asked that

—As soon as possible after his confirmation and swearing-in, Ambassador Kennedy³ address the North Atlantic Council. In his remarks, Ambassador Kennedy should review the President’s China trip along the lines of the President’s letters to heads of government and outline our approach to the Moscow trip as set forth in existing Presidential statements and your Foreign Policy Report to Congress. The draft of the Ambassador’s speech should be reviewed in the White House.

—Ambassador Smith⁴ should conduct full consultations, according to established procedures, before the next series of SALT sessions.

—A senior official of the Department of State should proceed to Brussels during March to review with the NAC major pending bilateral negotiations between the United States and the USSR.⁵

—A senior official of the Defense Department should proceed to Brussels to review with the NAC the status of the talks on preventing incidents at sea.

The President has further asked that in the first week of April you submit for his review additional suggestions for briefings or consultations in the light of the status of preparations with the Soviets at that time.⁶

The President directs that as part of his coordinating function in the preparations of the trip to the USSR, the Chairman, NSC Interdepartmental Group for Europe (IG/EUR) will coordinate all pre-Summit NATO briefings and consultations.

The President has decided not to stop in Western Europe after the meetings in the USSR. He would like you to plan to brief the Spring NATO Ministerial meeting⁷ subsequent to the Moscow meetings.

Henry A. Kissinger

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 262, Agency Files, NATO, Vol. XII. Secret. A copy was sent to the Secretary of Defense.
2. The Summit talks were held May 22–30.
3. David M. Kennedy, former Secretary of the Treasury, was appointed U.S. Representative to NATO on March 17.
4. Gerard C. Smith, Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, was chief negotiator at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
5. Rogers designated Hillenbrand to meet with the NAC. (Memorandum from Eliot to Kissinger, March 16; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 262, Agency Files, NATO, Vol. XII)
6. Kissinger distributed NSDM 162, “Presidential Guidance on Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions and a Conference on Cooperation and Security in Europe,” on April 5. The final section of the NSDM dealt with consulting the NATO Allies on these issues: “The reaction of the NATO Allies to this approach should be sought promptly. The goal of consultations should be to develop a consensus in advance of the NATO Ministerial meeting. An interagency paper on collateral constraints that might be appropriate for discussion at a CSCE should be developed and forwarded to NATO as soon as possible. A separate paper on constraints suitable to MBFR should also be prepared for submission to NATO.” ( Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XXXIX, European Security, Document 89)
7. A report on the meeting is in telegram Secto 31/2010 from USNATO and telegram Secto 30/301 from Luxembourg, both May 5. (Ibid., RG 59, Executive Secretariat, Conference Files, 1949–72, CF 488).