Office of the Historian

5. National Security Decision Memorandum 2251 2

Washington, July 16, 1973

TO:

  • The Secretary of State
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Secretary of the Treasury
  • The Secretary of Commerce
  • The Secretary of the Interior
  • The Chairman, NSC Under Secretaries Committee

Subject:

  • July–August 1973 Preparatory Meeting for the Law of the Sea Conference

The President has considered the NSC Under Secretaries Committee Chairman’s memorandum of July 11, 1973. The recommended instructions for the U.S. Delegation to the July–August preparatory meeting for the Law of the Sea Conference, forwarded with the Department of State’s memorandum of June 1, 1973 (S/S 7305021), are approved.

These instructions are approved with the understanding that the Chairman, NSC Under Secretaries Committee, has directed that a timely review of U.S. economic policy interests relating to the law of the sea negotiations be undertaken as part of the work of the Interagency Task Force on Law of the Sea, and that the findings of this review will be taken into consideration together with other important aspects of the U.S. law of the sea position—including political, strategic, environmental and scientific interests—in the further development of the U.S. position for the Law of the Sea Conference.

The Chairman, NSC Under Secretaries Committee, is requested to submit a report on the results of the July–August meeting together with recommended instructions for the U.S. Delegation to the organizational [Page 2] session of the Conference this fall. The report and recommended instructions should be submitted no later than October 19, 1973, for consideration by the President.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–241, NSDM 225, LOS Preparatory Conference. Secret. Copies were sent to the Secretary of Transportation, the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. The USC Chairman’s memorandum is published as Document 3. A summary of the recommended instructions is published as Document 2.↩
  2. Kissinger approved the recommended instructions for the U.S. delegation to the July–August Law of the Sea preparatory conference.↩