Office of the Historian

254. Message From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Aaron) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1

Washington, July 1, 1979, 1228Z

Sitto 100/WH 91455.

We will schedule an SCC, but Christopher and Vaky have reservations about bringing Pezzullo back for it. They ask you to reconsider based on the following reasons;

—Bowdler and Moss are coming back and will be able to give us a first hand account albeit, they are not in Managua.

—They are concerned that Pezzullo’s abrupt departure after a couple of days would raise questions in the minds of the moderate groups which he has contacted and would expose us to the criticism that we are unwilling to carry through and thus leave them exposed—this time to the Sandinistas, last time to Somoza.

—Sunday Monday and Tuesday2 will be critical days to implement our strategy and he has had only a couple brief days. We are running out of time. If we pull him out now, we may lose the opportunity to construct a moderate solution in Managua.

—There are no flights to bring him out. We would need to send a special plane and that would be very visible.

—If you have any additional questions that you want to ask of Pezzullo we could cable them down today. We will have a secure phone installation by Monday.

(Aaron’s opinion)—I don’t agree with State. I believe a firsthand assessment is necessary particularly because some of Pezzullo’s reports seem contradictory. Therefore, I recommend sending a plane down to bring him out Sunday for the meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

However, we will not be in touch with Pezzullo to bring him out until we have heard from you again.3

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor Files, Country Files, Box 36, Nicaragua: 7/1–4/79. Secret; Flash. Sent from the Situation Room to Brzezinski aboard Air Force One.↩
  2. July 1, 2, and 3.↩
  3. Brzezinski responded from Air Force One in a message to Aaron, July 1, confirming that Carter planned to hold a strategy review meeting on Nicaragua on July 2 and a meeting about Panama on July 3. Carter also directed that both meetings be “completely off the record.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, North/South, Pastor Files, Country Files, Box 36, Nicaragua: 7/1–4/79)↩