Office of the Historian

183. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to Secretary of State Kissinger, Washington, January 5, 1974.1 2

Washington, January 5, 1974

MEMORANDUM
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

January 5, 19 74

MEMORANDUM FOR
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of Commerce
The Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT: Response to NSSM 172 - Japan

It is necessary to proceed with the early completion of the interagency study of basic U.S. policy toward Japan in response to NSSM 172. The study memorandum of March 7, 1973, is still a valid definition of the questions to be addressed. The interagency study submitted by the Department of State’s memorandum of July 27, 1973, covering US-Japan cooperation on multilateral problems should be updated and incorporated into the final response to NSSM 172.

The study should be submitted no later than February 28, 1974, for consideration by the Senior Review Group.

[signed]
Henry A. Kissinger

cc: The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1061, NSC Institutional Materials, NSC Institutional Papers, January 1974 (2 of 2). Secret. Copies were sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. Sent to Kissinger under a covering memorandum, December 21, 1973, from Froebe and Donald Stukel of the NSC staff, which stated, “In June a long and rather rambling draft was completed and a copy sent to the NSC Staff. At that point further work bogged down due to uncertainty among the drafters as to how current events were likely to impact on US/Japan long-term relations and due partly to our call in July for an IG special report on regional and global issues in support of Prime Minister Tanaka’s visit.” (Ibid.)↩
  2. Kissinger tasked the Departments of State, Defense, Treasury, Commerce, and the Central Intelligence Agency to complete the response to NSSM 172.↩